,?*'"•■! v:'»;  ■ 


(i 


I 


I  ulie.  tie  Lcspinasse 

From  the  original,  by  Carmontel,  in  the  Musee  de 
Chan  til 


ysy 


The  Salon 

A  Study  of  French  Society  and  Personalities 
in  the  Eighteenth  Century 


By 

Helen  Clergue 


Illustrated 


G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons 

New  York    and    London 

ftbe  IkntcfeerbocKer  press 

1907 


Copyright,  1907 

BY 

HELEN   CLERGUE 


Ube  "Knickerbocker  press,  "Hew  JUJorfe 


College 
Library 

3  3 ,  W 

C5qs 


To 

Edward  Stanley  Roscoe 

But  for  whose  advice  and  encouragement  this  book 
would  not  have  been  written. 


Preface 

'"THE  object  of  these  studies  is  to  indicate 
*  the  part  which  the  salon  has  played  in 
the  history  of  French  society.  I  have  en- 
deavoured to  illustrate  this  by  the  present- 
ment of  four  typical  women  and,  in  the 
preliminary  study,  to  describe  some  of  the 
most  striking  features  of  a  part  of  French 
society,  so  that  the  reader  may  appreciate 
the  world  into  which  those  whose  lives  are 
here  sketched  were  born  and  its  effect  upon 
them.  The  whole  is  intended  to  show  how 
the  feminine  element,  which  has  been  so 
important  an  influence  in  the  development  of 
modern  society,  was  at  work  in  eighteenth- 
century  France. 

The  four  women  who  have  been  selected 
as  types  lived  in  the  same  period  and,  be- 
tween them,  may  be  said  to  embody  the 
different  phases  of  the  Parisian  society  of 
their  day.     No  two  persons  could  well  be  in 


vi  Preface 

greater  contrast  than  exclusive,  aristocratic 
Madame  Du  Deffand,  and  bourgeoise,  philan- 
thropic Madame  Geoffrin,  her  rival.  Julie 
de  Lespinasse  and  Madame  d'  Epinay  illus- 
trate the  gentler  and  more  feminine  types  of 
character.  The  former  united  in  her  salon 
the  prominent  features  which  characterised 
the  societies  of  Madame  Du  Deffand  and 
of  Madame  Goeffrin,  borrowing  its  critical 
features  from  that  of  the  earlier  friend,  and 
its  philosophical  element  from  the  later.  The 
salon  of  Madame  d'Epinay  was  the  more 
purely  philosophical,  and  association  with 
Rousseau  during  the  most  mentally  active 
period  of  his  life,  undoubtedly  influenced  her 
moral  theories. 

Madame  Du  Deffand,  in  whose  salon  is 
seen,  in  the  greatest  degree,  a  survival 
of  seventeenth-century  ideas,  may  be  said 
to  represent  pure  intellect,  Julie  de  Les- 
pinasse, who  would  be  extraordinary  in  any 
age,  unquenchable,  uncontrollable  passion. 
Madame  d'Epinay  and  Madame  Geoffrin 
whose  lives  demonstrate,  the  one,  the  order 
of  morals,  the  other,  the  democratic  tend- 


Preface  vii 

encies  of  this  epoch,  correspond  more  exactly 
to  it  and  are  its  more  representative  products. 

That  the  ethical  view-point  of  the  age  in 
which  they  live  must  be  understood  in  judg- 
ing historical  characters  is  an  axiom  which, 
though  it  should  be  obvious  to  the  student,  is 
often  not  clear  to  the  general  reader,  and  a  few 
words  perhaps  may  not  be  out  of  place  to 
emphasise  the  ethical  attitude  which  a  reader 
of  to-day  should  take  toward  those  women 
who  directed  the  salons. 

There  is  a  general  idea  in  English-speak- 
ing countries  that  they  were  all  women 
without  moral  principle,  and  any  study 
of  them  is  usually  undertaken  with  this 
preconceived  prejudice.  On  the  contrary, 
though  living  in  a  lax  and  licentious  age,  they 
essentially  assisted  in  raising  its  moral  tone, 
and  the  radical  changes  effected  by  the  Revo- 
lution, which  altered  the  structure  of  society, 
and  to  which  its  rapid  ethical  advance  is  ow- 
ing, had  their  birth,  and  were  fostered,  in 
the  salon. 

Thepersonality,  lives,  andsocial  adventures 
of  those  who  have  popularly  been  called  the 


viii  Preface 

women  of  the  salons  are  always  interesting, 
but  these  features  have  been  dwelt  upon, 
perhaps,  to  excess.  We  are  apt  to  forget 
in  reading  of  their  careers  that  they  illus- 
trate the  age  and  its  influences — that  they 
may  be  studied  and  analysed,  not  only  from 
a  psychological,  but  also  from  an  historical 
point  of  view  and  in  connection  with  the 
tendencies  and  currents  of  the  times— in  other 
words,  that  they  are  not  mere  isolated  figures. 

I  take  this  opportunity  to  thank  the  Hon. 
Arthur  D.  Elliot  for  his  continuous  encourage- 
ment. I  must  also  thank  the  publishers  of  the 
Edinburgh  Review  fox  permission  to  include  in 
this  volume  the  studies  on  Madame  Du  Deff- 
and,  Madame  d'  Epinay,  and  Julie  de  Lespi- 
nasse  which  originally  appeared,  for  the 
most  part,  in  its  pages.  And  I  wish  to  ex- 
press my  deep  sense  of  obligation  to  the  late 
Madame  Th.  Blanc-Benthzon.  To  her  I  am 
indebted  for  valuable  unpublished  material ; 
and  my  intercourse  with  her  during  the 
final  preparation  of  these  studies  added  much 
to  the  pleasure  of  my  work. 

April,  1907.  Helen  Clergue. 


CONTENTS 

The  Evolution  of  the  Salon  . 

PAGE 
I 

Madame  Du  Deffand 

•      45 

Madame  d'Epinay      .... 

.     119 

Julie  de  Lespinasse    .... 

•     199 

Madame  Geoffrin 

.    267 

ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

Julie  de  Lespinasse  ...  Frontispiece 

From  the  original,  by  Carmontel,  in  the  Musee  de  Chantilly 

Madame  de  Tencin 20 

From  an  engraving  by  J.  C.  Armytage 

Madame  Du  Deffand 46 

From    a  painting.       Artist  unknown.     (By   permission    ot 
Messrs.  Braun,  Clement  &  Co.) 

President  H£nault 60 

From   an  engraving   by  Moitte  after  the  painting  by  St. 
Aubin 

Voltaire 66 

Alter  the  drawing  at  Ferney 

Horace  Walpole 90 

From  a  painting  by  N.  Hone 

Madame  d'Epinay     .         .         .         .         .         .120 

From  the  painting  by  Leotard  in  the  Musee  de  Versailles 
(By  permission  of  Messrs.  Neurdein) 

The  Chateau  de  la  Chevrette      .         .         .       128 

After  an  old  print  by  M.  de  la  Live  de  Jully 

Grimm      ........       142 

After  the  drawing  by  Carmontelle 


xii  Illustrations 

PAGE 

Jean  Jacques  Rousseau 160 

After  a  drawing  by  Mauzaisse 

Baron  d'Holbach 172 

From  a  portrait  in  the  Musee  Conde,  Chantilly 

Baroness  d'Holbach        .         .        .        .        .180 

After  a  painting  by  Varin 

Diderot 190 

From  an  old  painting 

D'Alembert 200 

After  the  painting  by  Chardin.    (Reproduced  by  permission 
ot  Braun,  Clement  &  Company) 

Marmontel      .......       230 

From  an  old  print 

Condorcet 254 

From  an  engraving  by  Levachez 

Madame  Geoffrin 268 

From  the  painting  attributed  to  Chardin,   in  the   Louvre 
(By  permission  of  Braun,  Clement  &  Co.) 

Fontenelle 290 

Engraved  by  St.  Aubin  from  the  bust  by  Le  Moyne 

Montesquieu 298 

After  the  painting  by  Dever  a 

Helvetius 342 

From    an  engraving  by  St,  Aubin,   after  the   portrait  by 
Vanloo. 


"Ce  siecle,  chose  etrange,  a  ete  jusqu'  ici  dedaigne 
par  l'histoire.  lis  semblent  qu'  ils  aient  craint  d'etre 
notes  de  legerete  en  s'approchant  de  ce  siecle  dont  la 
legerete  n'est  que  la  surface  et  le  masque." 

E.    AND  J.    DE   GONCOURT. 


The   Salon 

The  Evolution  of  the  Salon 

i 

'T'HE  salon  of  the  eighteenth  century  was 
*  not  a  mere  accidental  social  phenome- 
non ;  it  was  the  natural  result,  not  only  of  a 
concurrence  of  various  remarkable  phases  in 
society  as  it  existed  in  that  changing  period, 
but  of  ideas  the  germs  of  which  were  in 
active  movement  in  the  Middle  Ages. 

The  mediasval  woman  of  chivalry  was 
conceded  to  be  a  being  of  finer  material 
than  the  man,  however  powerful  or  brave, 
and  her  supremacy  was  essentially  spir- 
itual for,  in  the  songs  of  chivalry,  the 
knight  invariably  endowed  his  lady  with 
superior  qualities  of  mind  and  heart.  These 
chivalric  ideas,  generated  in  Provence,  took 


2  The  Salon 

root  in  the  fruitful  soil  of  Italy.  Cities  have 
ever  offered  the  most  favourable  environ- 
ment for  intellectual  women,  and  it  is  in  the 
rich  and  cultivated  centres  of  the  Italian 
renaissance,  that  loved  beauty  and  learning, 
and  contained  exceptional  women,  such  as 
Michael  Angelo's  friend,  the  poet  Vittoria 
Colonna  who  brought  together  the  great 
and  wise,  that  the  salon,  which  raised  the 
scholar  to  the  level  of  the  noble,  finds  its 
precursor. 

But  the  union  of  birth  and  learning  in  the 
formation  of  society  in  Italy  was  of  a  sporadic 
nature  only,  and  the  movement  did  not 
obtain  a  recognised  value  until  the  seven- 
teenth century  opened,  when  an  important 
change  took  place  and  a  marked  advance  was 
made  in  European  thought.  The  centre  of 
learning  and  culture  shifted  from  Italy  to 
France,  and  clever  women  of  the  highest 
rank  then,  for  the  first  time,  invited  the 
scholars  to  meet  the  nobles  on  an  equal 
footing,  and  scholars  studied  manners  and 
nobles'  wit. 

As  early  as  the  sixteenth  century  Mar- 


The  Evolution  of  the  Salon  3 

guerite  de  Valois1  had  brought  together 
at  her  remarkable  court  in  Navarre  the 
elements  which  later  developed  into  the 
salon,  but  the  position  which  women  took 
and  maintained  with  the  opening  of  the 
hotel  de  Rambouillet  in  16 17 — that  of  bring- 
ing together  diverse  elements  in  society  and 
keeping  them  entirely  submissive  to  their 
will  and  pleasure — gave  women  a  wholly 
new  and  distinct  power  and  influence,  a 
place  gained  and  maintained  neither  as 
women  of  letters  nor  politicians,  but  by  the 
feminine  qualities  of  tact,  sympathy,  and 
mental  alertness. 

-  This  novel  supremacy  of  women  in  Paris, 
which  involved  a  recognition  alike  of  intel- 
lectual attributes  and  of  feminine  charm, 
was  contemporaneous  with  an  inferior  status 
in  other  parts  of  Europe  where  women  were 
hardly  more  than  slaves  among  the  peas- 
ants, mere  housewives  among  the  middle 
class,  and  propagators  of  the  race,  or  toys, 
among  the  aristocracy.  That  which  made 
the  position  of  the  French  woman  the  more 
remarkable  was  that  it  occurred  in  a  country 

1  Marguerite  de  Valoi«-Angouleme,  chateau  d'Odos. 


4  The  Salon 

where  her  situation  in  regard  to  marriage 
and  family  life  was,  and  has  largely  re- 
mained, one  of  subservience  to  the  head  of 
the  family;  not  as  in  England,  where  in- 
dividual freedom  had  already  become  a 
constitutional  maxim. 

In  England,  too,  no  such  social  products 
as  Madame  Geoffrin  and  Julie  de  Lespinasse 
were  ever  to  be  seen,  though  the  salon  in 
France  was  not  without  influence  on  Eng- 
lish society.  But  the  attempts  of  women 
like  Mrs.  Montagu  to  obtain  in  London  a 
position  such  as  that  of  Madame  Geoffrin 
in  Paris  were  generally  regarded  as  eccen- 
tricities, even  if  the  Englishwoman's  break- 
fast parties  were  crowded.  Not  only  society 
as  it  existed  in  France,  but  qualities  peculiar 
to  the  French  woman  were  necessary  for 
the  maintenance  of  a  salon. 

In  no  other  country  have  men  and  women 
become  the  intellectual  companions  that  they 
have  in  France,  a  state  of  society  dating  from 
the  ascendency  of  the  salon.  The  same  sub- 
jects may  be  discussed,  and  in  the  same  de- 
tached and   impersonal   manner,   between 


The  Evolution  of  the  Salon  5 

men  and  women  as  among  men  alone. 
The  mental  freedom  and  development 
affected  by  this  intellectual  comradeship 
has  given  to  the  French  woman  a  masculine 
breadth  of  view  not  to  be  found  elsewhere. 
But  this  alone  would  not  insure  success 
in  the  career  to  which  these  women  aspired, 
and  to  feminine  insight  and  the  ready  and 
clear  intelligence  which  is  a  mental  attribute 
of  their  race  they  necessarily  united  gifts  of 
character;  necessarily,  for  a  vain  woman 
would  inevitably  have  failed  in  such  an  un- 
dertaking. The  first  aim  of  the  leader  of 
a  salon  was  to  make  others  shine  rather 
than  to  attract  attention  to  herself.  Nor 
was  vanity  encouraged  in  any  member  of 
the  circle,  for  the  hostess  skilfully  directed 
and  manipulated  the  conversation,  tossing  it, 
as  her  ready  wits  suggested,  from  one  to  an- 
other. The  topic,  and  the  manner  of  treating 
it,  was  entirely  subject  to  her  control  and. 
no  matter  how  burning  the  question  under 
discussion  might  be,  nor  how  much  the  com- 
pany might  differ  concerning  it,  no  exhibition 
of  ill-will  or  undue  excitement  was  ever  for 


6  The  Salon 

a  moment  tolerated,  gentle  manners  were 
as  indispensable  as  clear  brains. 

As  late  as  the  seventeenth  century  women 
were  of  scarcely  any  social,  and  of  less 
political,  importance ;  it  was  the  opening 
of  the  salon  of  the  Marquise  de  Rambouil- 
let  in  Paris  that  marked  their  advent  as 
accepted  social  factors.  Henceforth  a  suf- 
ficiently able  and  ambitious  woman,  forced 
no  longer  as  she  grew  older  to  take  refuge 
within  the  cloister  from  neglect  and  want  of 
occupation,  might,  instead  of  repressing  the 
activity  of  her  mind,  exercise  it  by  forming 
a  congenial  society. 

The  history  of  the  salon  proper  begins  with 
that  of  the  Marquise  de  Rambouillet  who 
herself  designed  and  adorned  the  magnificent 
hotel  de  Rambouillet,  where  she  gathered  to- 
gether a  company  which  exercised  a  marked 
and  happy  influence  on  literature  and  man- 
ners, where  the  standing  of  men  of  letters 
was  raised  and  assured,  where  noblemen 
turned  to  study  and  refined  pleasures,  and 
where  women  were  recognised  as  intellec- 
tual companions  for  men. 


The  Evolution  of  the  Salon  7 

The  salon  of  Madame  de  Rambouillet, 
by  its  radical  alteration  of  the  relations 
between  men  and  women  as  well  as  be- 
tween conditions,  radically  affected  also  the 
course  of  French  letters.  The  influence 
which  women  with  the  opening  of  the  hotel 
de  Rambouillet  exerted  on  literature  is,  in- 
deed, incalculable.  ' '  The  theatre  of  Corneille 
expresses  the  ideal  of  the  hotel  de  Ram- 
bouillet," says  Brunetiere;  the  salons  also, 
he  writes, 

were  opened  to  writers  at  an  epoch,  and  even  at  the 
precise  time  when  one  might  have  asked,  not  without 
some  anxiety,  if  literature  were  not  degenerating  with 
the  school  of  Mathurin  Regnier,  for  example,  into  a 
species  of  Bohemianism; — they  directed  the  observa- 
tion of  dramatic  authors  and  of  romantic  writers  toward 
the  analysis  or  the  anatomy  of  that  passion  of  love 
which  will  be  always,  whatever  may  be  said,  the  ma- 
terial preferred  in  romantic  or  poetic  fiction;  and  from 
this  anatomy  of  the  passion  of  love,  they  attempted  to 
outline  the  struggles  of  conscience,  rules  of  conduct, 
and  an  ideal  of  life  which  governed  even  the  other 
passions  too.1 

Whilst  admitting  that  the  superiority 
in  style  which  the  French  possesses  over 

1  Les    Philosophes    et    la    Societe   Franfaise,  par   M.    Ferdinand 
Brunetiere,  Revue  des  Deux  Mondes,  ler  Dec,  1906,  p.  619. 


8  The  Salon 

other  literatures  was  due  to  the  influence  of 
women  in  the  salon,  Brunetiere  considered 
that  their  influence  impoverished  literature 
by  making  it  aristocratic,  thus  preventing  it 
from  becoming  popular.  He  claimed,  too, 
that  the  very  perfection  which  the  language 
attained  in  its  form  tended  to  uniformity; 
that  form  was  gained  at  the  cost  of  origi- 
nality. This  criticism  more  nearly  concerns 
the  seventeenth  century,  whose  greatest 
writers,  Moliere,  Pascal,  and  Boileau,  were 
hostile  to  the  salon,  than  to  the  eighteenth, 
when  the  intellectual  activity  of  the  salon, 
at  the  height  of  its  power,  had  become  po- 
litical in  its  effects  and  men's  minds  were 
finally  engrossed  with  serious  constitutional 
changes.  Not  one  great  writer  in  the  eight- 
eenth century  but  submitted  to  the  in- 
fluence of  the  salon,  derived  sustenance  from 
it,  and  composed  for  it.  Montesquieu  left 
his  vines  to  visit  Madame  de  Lambert  and 
Madame  de  Tencin,  Voltaire  was  a  frequenter 
of  the  salons  and  intimate  with  their  most 
influential  leaders,  the  genius  of  Rousseau 
developed  under  the  roof  provided  by  Ma- 


The  Evolution  of  the  Salon  9 

dame  d'  Epinay,  Buffon's  powerful  will  bent 
before  Madame  Necker,  and  the  hitherto 
untamed  Diderot  regretted,  on  her  account, 
the  grossness  of  his  writings. 

It  is  owing  to  the  salon,  no  doubt,  that 
"serious  questions  were  treated  wittily  and 
bagatelles  seriously,"1  but  the  epoch  of 
literature  cannot  be  said  to  be  wanting 
in  seriousness,  or  in  breadth,  force,  or 
originality,  which  could  produce  such  men 
as  these.2 

The  original  members  of  the  French  Aca- 
demy were  recognised  as  the  most  distin- 
guished guests  at  the  hotel  de  Rambouillet, 
and,  following  Ronsard  and  the  Plelade, 
they  met  with  every  encouragement  in  their 
task  of  reconstructing  the  language.  In  this 
hotel  Bossuet  improvised  his  first  sermon, 
and  intimately  connected  with  the  renowned 
structure  are  the  names  of  La  Rochefoucauld 
and  the  Comtesse  de  La  Fayette  —  roman- 
tically intertwined— Corneille,  the  Marquise 

«  Bruneticre,  Manuel  de  VHistoire  de  la  Literature  Francaisc. 
Paris,  1907,  p.  339. 

'  Les  Philosoplies  et  la  Societi  Francaise  du  XVIIImc  Stick , 
par  Marius  Roustan,  Paris  et  Lyon,  ioob,  p.  258. 


io  The  Salon 

de  Sevigne,  the  Duchesse  de  Longueville, 
Mademoiselle  de  Scudery,  the  Marquise  de 
Sable,  and  the  Duchesse  de  Montpensier — 
the  Grande  Mademoiselle — several  of  whom, 
after  the  death  of  Madame  de  Rambouillet, 
opened  their  own  salons,  where  was  con- 
tinued the  revolutionary  propaganda  in  the 
world  of  thought.  Despite  the  fact  that  au- 
thorship for  women  was  tabooed  in  society, 
Mademoiselle  de  Scudery  and  Madame  de 
La  Fayette  also,  gave  vent  to  their  ideas,  and 

rto  their  regrets,  desires,  and  dreams,  in  long 
romances;  but,  admired  as  it  was,  Madame 
de  La  Fayette  disclaimed  all  knowledge  of 
her  celebrated  work,  the  Princesse  de  Cleves. 
Of  such  was  the  brilliant  company  to  be 
found  in  the  exquisite  "chambre  bleu"  of 
the  Marquise  de  Rambouillet,  a  salon  which, 
in  its  constructive  power,  in  its  elegance 
and  its  refinement,  was  never  equalled. 

Considering  the  slow  and  painful  growth 
which  attends  the  common  course  of  events, 
this,  the  first  of  the  salons,  is  seen  to  be  an 
extraordinary  product ;  a  vision  singularly 
perfect  and  homogeneous,  it  issues  from  the 


The  Evolution  of  the  Salon         1 1 

mists  of  the  past.  But  we  are  regarding 
the  dawn  of  the  most  brilliant  period  of 
French  history ;  the  grand  siecle  is  in 
progress. 

As  I  have  said,  it  was  in  the  eighteenth 
century  that  the  salon  obtained  its  greatest 
influence.  The  Marquise  de  Lambert,  born 
in  1646,  who  established  the  most  note- 
worthy salon  of  the  first  half  of  the  eight- 
eenth century,  lived  in  a  time  when  she 
could  catch  a  reflection,  at  least,  from 
the  declining  glory  of  the  hotel  de  Ram- 
bouillet  and,  before  its  final  extinction, 
could  hear  it  familiarly  discussed.  A  wo- 
man of  the  highest  intelligence,  fond  of 
study  and  reflection,  Madame  de  Lambert 
was  quick  to  grasp  the  meaning  of  this  new 
conception  of  society,  but  it  was  not  until  the 
later  years  of  her  life  that  she  ventured  upon 
a  ground  where  wide  experience,  ripe  judg- 
ment, and  knowledge  of  men  were  required 
to  walk  without  stumbling  in  the  path  broken 
by  Madame  de  Rambouillet.  Not  only  did 
Madame  de  Lambert  successfully  compete 
with  her  predecessors  but  her  salon  connected 


i2  The  Salon 

and,  in  a  manner,  united  the  two  periods  in 
which  she  lived,  for,  upholding  the  decorum 
and  moderation  and  containing  the  critical 
tone  which  marked  the  salon  of  the  seven- 
teenth century,  it  conceived,  also,  the  gener- 
ous theories  which  led  to  the  philosophical 
and  political  movement  of  the  eighteenth 
century. 

Madame  de  Lambert  was  a  rich  widow  of 
uncommon  attainments,  chiefly  owing  to 
the  education  she  had  received  from  Bachau- 
mont,  her  step-father,  when,  in  1710,  she 
opened  her  salon  in  the  Palais  Mazarin — the 
only  existing  wing  of  which  was  built  by 
her — the  culminating  point  in  a  life  which 
had  been  hitherto  by  no  means  either  empty 
or  uneventful.  The  signal  example  which 
had  been  set  by  the  Marquise  de  Rambouil- 
let  was  closely  followed  by  Madame  de 
Lambert,  and  the  same  high  ethical  stand- 
ard imposed  amid  the  license  which  sur- 
rounded the  court  of  Henri  IV,  was  upheld 
in  the  far  worse  case  of  the  Regent. 

One  of  the  phases  which  mark  the  ad- 
vance of  the  modern  spirit  to  be  seen  in  the 


The  Evolution  of  the  Salon         13 

salon  was  the  support  given  candidates  to 
the  French  academy.  The  name  of  Mad- 
ame de  Rambouillet,  the  founder  of  the 
salon,  is  inseparably  connected  with  the 
founding  of  the  French  Academy,  and  this 
institution  was  closely  associated  thereafter 
with  the  salons,  gathering  its  recruits,  with- 
out interruption,  from  one  or  another.  Mad- 
ame de  Lambert  actively  and  openly  elec- 
tioneered for  her  candidates,  and  is  said  to 
have  made  half  the  Academicians  of  her 
time,  her  salon  being  called  the  "ante-cham- 
ber" of  the  Academy,  a  term  repeated  in 
respect  to  the  salon  of  Julie  de  Lespinasse. 


There  are  other  characteristics  which, 
throughout  its  history,  follow  the  course 
of  the  salon.  There  was  little  card  play- 
ing, the  common  fashionable  dissipation, 
and  music  entered  into  its  composition 
chiefly  as  a  topic  of  conversation.  The 
tete-a-tete  was  prohibited,  and  subjects  were 
discussed  in  common.  Should  any  one 
suppose  he  had  reason  to  be  given  more 


1 4  The  Salon 

attention  than  another,  he  was  quickly  disil- 
lusioned for  he  must  soon  discover  that, 
instead  of  attention  being  directed  to  him, 
he  was  only  expected  to  add  his  ideas 
to  the  subject  under  discussion.  D  '  Alem- 
bert,  admirable  talker  though  he  was, 
was  never  permitted  to  monopolise  the 
conversation,  even  in  the  salon  of  his  dear 
friend,  Julie  de  Lespinasse.  Conversation 
can  never  be  general  where  there  are  many 
people ;  consequently  the  number  received 
at  one  time  was  never  large  ;  it  was  conver- 
sation which  was  the  fundamental,  and 
which  was  uniformly  maintained  as  the 
chief,  feature  of  the  salon. 

Julie  de  Lespinasse,  writing  to  Condor- 
cet,  complained  that  as  both  Turgot  and  the 
Duchesse  d'  Enville  wrote  him  every  day, 
it  was  difficult  to  find  news  to  tell  him.  It 
must  be  acknowledged  that  the  habitues 
often  felt  the  need  of  exchanging  ideas; 
every  day,  or  even  twice  a  day,  was  not 
too  often,  and  if  it  were  impossible  to  see 
one  another,  the  hiatus  was  filled  by  long 
letters. 


The  Evolution  of  the  Salon         1 5 

Interchanges  of  ideas  cause  their  diffusion, 
and  the  learned,  in  answer  to  the  crying  need 
for  the  wider  distribution  of  knowledge,  be- 
gan to  forsake  their  Latin  and  to  write  in 
the  popular  tongue.  Science  as  well  as  lit- 
erature was  thus  brought  within  the  compre- 
hension of  the  general  public,  Fontenelle, 
for  example,  substituting  French  for  Latin, 
and  simple  terms  for  scientific  formulas — 
thereby  producing  his  best  and  most  useful 
work — in  order  that  Madame  de  Lambert 
might  be  able  to  read  his  scientific  treatises. 
The  Academicians  wrought  over  the  French 
language,  forming  and  perfecting  it  in  the 
Palais  Mazarin,  just  as  they  had  done  in  the 
hotel  de  Rambouillet.  Women  did  not  then 
publish  their  writings,  but  Madame  de  Lam- 
bert wrote — chiefly  on  education — with  a 
care  which  suggests  expectation  of  a  larger 
audience  than  that  of  her  children,  for  whom 
her  productions  were  ostensibly  designed. 

Her  style  is  clear  and  unaffected,  and  her 
ideas  are  advanced.  Some  of  her  sayings 
contain,  it  is  true,  a  certain  worldly  wisdom 
which  is  suggestive  of  Lord  Chesterfield's 


1 6  The  Salon 

calculating  advice  to  his  son,  but  her  code 
of  ethics  is  higher.  A  woman  of  deep  feel- 
ing, she  saw  the  danger  which  lies  in  the 
ascendency  of  the  emotions.  "  We  should 
fear  great  emotions  of  the  soul,  which  pre- 
pare ennui  and  disgust.  .  .  .  We  be- 
come so  accustomed  to  ardent  pleasures 
that  we  cannot  fall  back  upon  simple  ones," 
she  wrote.  "Very  respectable,"  was  the 
satirical  designation  with  which  some  ofthe 
wits  sought  to  cast  ridicule  upon  the  high 
character  of  her  society,  but  their  efforts 
were  attended  with  no  better  results  than 
had  been  obtained  by  those  who  attempted 
to  identify  the  ridiculous  features  of  the 
Precieuses  with  the  hotel  de  Rambouillet. 
Through  Madame  de  Lambert  and  her  salon, 
Madame  de  Sevigne  is  linked  with  her  epis- 
tolary prototype  of  a  later  century,  Madame 
Du  Deffand,  and  Madame  de  Rambouillet, 
refined  and  aspiring,  with  Madame  de  Ten- 
cin,  clever  and  corrupt,  for  after  Madame  de 
Lambert,  the  character  of  the  salon  percep- 
tibly changes. 
The   ethics  of  an   age   have  been  well 


The  Evolution  of  the  Salon         1 7 

described  as  the  "common  conscience" 
of  its  own  civilisation.  They  are  deter- 
mined by  various,  often  conflicting,  causes, 
sometimes  by  the  good  or  bad  ex- 
ample of  a  court  or  aristocracy,  some- 
times by  the  levelling  process  of  de- 
mocracy, again  by  impalpable  forces 
which  cannot  be  grasped,  and  the  salon, 
which  was  the  certain  index  of  its  time, 
instantly  betrayed  their  least  variation. 
"Opinion,"  said  Voltaire,  "governs  the 
world."  And  the  salons  governed  opinion; 
but  the  women  who  directed  them  were, 
after  Madame  de  Lambert,  themselves  no 
longer  guided  by  the  same  ideals  which 
had  inspired  those  who  had  evolved  the 
seventeenth-century  salon.  Romance  and 
sentiment  were  ridiculed,  and  ridicule  was 
feared  like  the  plague.1  Marriage  merely 
opened  a  door  to  freedom  and  pleasure  for 
women,  and  neither  party  to  the  contract 
expected  the  least  constraint  to  be  placed 
on  his  or  her  desires  beyond  that  required 
by  taste,  which  was  the  real  and  only  ethical 

}Julie,  J. -J.  Rousseau.     Paris:  Gamier  Freres,  p.  196. 
2 


1 8  The  Salon 

governor,  for  eighteenth-century  society 
never  lost  its  respect  for  fine  manners.  Bon- 
ton  was  the  definition  society  gave  to  taste; 
the  phrase  signified  ease  in  conversation, 
politeness  in  expression,  respect  to  persons, 
regard  for  appearances,  a  manner  which 
confounded  neither  condition,  place,  nor 
persons,  a  tact  which  equally  advised  the 
respect  due  to  others  and  to  oneself.  And, 
moreover,  no  man  dared  disregard,  and  no 
project  could  hope  to  succeed  without  the 
sanction  of,  bon-ton.1 

in 

As  the  eighteenth  century  advanced  spirit- 
ual aspiration  gave  place  to  materialism, 
the  spirit  of  repose  to  restlessness,  anxiety, 
and  excitement.  Science  arose;  natural  his- 
tory, history,  sociology,  political  economy, 
had  their  birth  in  the  eighteenth  century. 
Faith  declined;  there  were  those  who  even 
reproached  Voltaire  as  ' ' bigot "  and  ' '  deist " ; 
but  an  attempt  was  made  to  fill  the  religious 

i  Mademoiselle  de  Sommery.  Quoted  by  Grimm.  Correspon- 
dance  Litter  aire,  17  tomes  en  3  parties,  Paris,  1812,  1813,  1814, 
troisieme  partie,  t.  11,  p.  125. 


The  Evolution  of  the  Salon         19 

void  by  the  teaching  of  an  ethical  philosophy 
and  by  the  practice  of  an  altruistic  cult 
which  went  by  the  name  of  humanity. 

Material  as  are  many  of  its  phases,  the 
eighteenth  century  is  too  often  condemned, 
in  its  totality,  by  the  moralist,  as  a  de- 
cadent age.  Like  all  epochs  it  possesses 
its  transitional  features  when  the  forms 
of  one  are  to  be  seen  intermingled  with 
those  of  another ;  the  century  may,  how- 
ever, be  divided  into  three  periods,  each 
of  which  is  quite  different  in  character  to 
the  others.  The  first,  when  the  influence 
of  the  seventeenth  century  still  lingered,  was 
epitomised  in  the  dignified,  tranquil,  and 
constructive  salon  of  Madame  de  Lambert. 
The  second,  or  middle  period,  was  the  licen- 
tious age,  fitly  exemplified  in  the  life  of 
Madame  de  Tencin.  While  the  third,  which 
ushered  in  the  Revolution,  was  a  time  of 
travail  and  of  regeneration.  This  third  period, 
as  it  draws  towards  its  close,  may  be  styled 
a  particularly  moral  epoch  when  we  con- 
sider its  substitution  of  generosity  and  self- 
sacrifice    for    worldliness    and     prudence, 


20  The  Salon 

enthusiasm  for  coldness,  its  return  to  many 
of  the  fundamental  duties  of  every-day  life ;  its 
hatred  of  injustice,  sham,  and  affectation, 
and  its  diligent  search  after  truth.  It  is  plain 
that  the  ethical  view-point  has  again  under- 
gone a  radical  change. 

As  the  Revolution  draws  near,  birth,  which 
formerly  had  condescended  to  intellect,  is 
now  seen  to  be  losing  ground  ;  intellectual 
predominance  becomes  more  marked,  while 
the  authority  of  the  well  born,  as  such,  is 
felt  to  be  rapidly  waning. 

The  power  and  the  usefulness  of  the 
salons  were  due  to  one  particular  cause  : 
they  were  intellectual  exchanges.  The 
literary  and  philosophical  salon,  where  men- 
tal activity  was  most  pronounced,  and 
where  discussion  was  freest,  gained  con- 
tinually over  the  fashionable  hotel.  The 
ambitious  Duchesse  de  Maine  with  her  lit- 
tle court  at  Sceaux;  the  powerful  Marechale 
de  Luxembourg  at  her  magnificent  chateau 
of  Montmorency  ;  the  amiable  Princesse  de 
Beauvau,  all  of  whom  kept  open  houses— 
in  spite  of  rank  and  riches— could  never 


I 


MADAME   DE  TENCIN. 
From  an  Eni/raviny  by  J.  C.  ArmijUuje. 


The  Evolution  of  the  Salon        21 

compete,  in  power  and  in  influence,  with 
bourgeoise  Madame  Geoffrin,  Julie  de  Lespin- 
asse,  the  penniless  outcast,  or  with  Madame 
d'Epinay,  whose  fame  waxed  greater  as  her 
possessions  grew  less. 

The  debut  of  the  Marquise  de  Tencin, about 
1 729,  in  the  character  of  the  leader  of  a  salonr 
emphasised  the  first  change  in  the  ethics  of 
the  eighteenth  century.  The  reproach  ' '  very 
respectable  "  could  never  have  been  applied 
to  her,  though  from  this  time  the  objection- 
able features  of  her  life  were  laid  aside  ;  but 
any  woman  who  had  borne  such  a  reputation 
for  intrigue,  no  matter  how  clever,  could 
never,  in  the  previous  century,  have  suc- 
ceeded in  collecting  such  a  remarkable  group 
as  she  did  about  her. 

On  the  death  of  Madame  de  Tencin,  in 
1749,  the  salons  diverge  and,  as  they  in- 
crease, take  on  individual  characteristics.  For 
their  numbers  grow  until,  on  the  eve  of  the 
Revolution,  when  men's  minds  were  made 
still  more  active  by  the  prevailing  excite- 
ment, a  man  looked  up  to  like  d'Alembert, 
or  a  popular  foreigner  like  Horace  Walpole, 


22  The  Salon 

could,  if  he  liked,  divide  the  days  of  the 
week  between  different  salons,  in  any 
one  of  which  he  would  find  a  varied 
society,  and  mental  stimulus.  Madame 
Du  Deffand,  Julie  de  Lespinasse,  Madame 
Geoffrin,  Madame  d'Epinay,  Madame  Necker, 
lived  and  ruled  at  one  and  the  same 
time. 

The  forces  which  finally  resulted  in  the 
Revolution  were  at  this  time  drawing  to- 
wards their  culmination  in  every  section  of 
the  social  structure,  and  their  action  was 
visible  in  strangely  unexpected  places.  It 
could  be  seen  in  the  salons  of  Paris,  as  in 
the  sumptuous  apartments  of  the  chateaux 
de  La  Chevrette  and  at  Chantilly,  and  in 
those  magnificent  buildings  which,  surviving 
the  Revolution,  still  rise  in  splendour  high 
above  the  banks  of  the  Loire  and  the  Seine, 
and  whose  turrets  and  battlements  peep  out 
from  Normandy  forests  or  crown  the  heights 
in  wild  Perigord  and  savage  Savoy.  Cour- 
tiers, philosophers,  and  agreeable  and  clever 
women  were  here  collected,  whose  discus- 
sions, animated  by  a  spirit  of  criticism  and 


The  Evolution  of  the  Salon        23 

inquiry,   were    destructive    of  these    very 
surroundings. 

IV 

A  salon,  in  the  historical  sense  of  the 
term,  was  neither  a  house  which  was  al- 
ways open  to  the  world  at  large,  nor  did 
it  at  all  resemble  the  modern  day-reception 
in  English-speaking  countries,  with  its  jum- 
ble of  heterogeneous  elements.  It  was  a 
carefully  selected  and  assorted  company,  its 
numbers  regulated,  and  so  skilfully  arranged 
and  directed  as  to  form  a  homogeneous 
unity. 

The  salons  are  sometimes  dwelt  upon  as 
a  light  and  loose  society,  whose  leaders 
and  frequenters,  freeing  themselves  not  only 
from  the  restraints  of  conventionality,  but 
from  any  standard  of  morality  as  well,  car- 
ried freedom  of  speech  to  the  extreme  of 
license;  where  an  assemblage  of  dissipated, 
if  brilliant,  men  were  often  gathered  together 
by  a  frivolous  and  unconventional,  probably 
equally  censurable,  though  gifted,  woman. 
Such  was  not  the  case.     Great  changes  in 


24  The  Salon 

morals  and  in  public  sentiment  generally 
have  occurred  since  their  time,  with  the 
gradual  progress  of  civilisation  and  ideas, 
and  the  world  of  to-day  would  be  offended 
at  much  which  at  that  period  was  over- 
looked or  condoned ;  but  the  salon,  far 
from  being  an  aid  or  abettor  to  a  scandalous 
life  was,  rather,  society's  adjuster — the 
court  of  public  opinion  from  whence  there 
was  no  appeal — as  to  behaviour  and  man- 
ners, while  it  inspired  and  directed  the  in- 
telligence. A  high  ideal  of  truth  and  beauty 
was  its  constant  aim;  a  perfect  propor- 
tion, an  exquisite  harmony,  which  tended 
to  unity  and  temperance,  was  the  rule,  and 
less  freedom  in  the  sense  of  license  was  to 
be  found  there  than  in  any  society  in  the 
great  capitals  of  the  world  before  or  after; 
therein  lay  its  power  and  its  success, 
stimulating  and  enlarging,  as  it  did,  the 
life  of  the  intellect.  The  private  life  of  the 
individual,  past  or  present,  might  be  as  cor- 
rupt as  his  code  allowed,  but  when  he  en- 
tered the  society  of  the  salon,  he  must 
satisfy  the  requirements  of  his  environment 


The  Evolution  of  the  Salon         25 

if  he  would  remain.  Here  that  which  was 
best  in  thought  and  expression  flourished, 
here  all  that  was  exalted  in  sentiment  was 
applauded ;  and  here,  if  an  original  idea  were 
introduced,  the  divine  spark  was  not  permit- 
ted to  expire  for  want  of  fanning.  It  is  thus 
evident  that  the  leader  of  a  salon  had  no 
light  task  to  perform;  he  or  she  was  an 
arbiter  accepted  by  society  in  the  interest  of 
good  manners  and  high  thinking,  and  any 
one  who  violated  a  law  was  peremptorily 
banished,  for  the  ruler  was  autocratic  and 
all-powerful. 

The  important  salons  were  generally  di- 
rected by  women  who  were  either  unmar- 
ried, or  widows,  or  women  who  did  not  live 
with  their  husbands;  to  prove,  however,  that 
it  was  possible  for  a  husband  to  enter  into 
their  construction,  there  are  the  examples 
of  the  salons  of  Madame  d'  Holbach  and 
Madame  Helvetius,  where  husband  and  wife 
were  both  prominent.  But  women  were  not 
only  the  skilful  hostesses,  they  were  also — 
though  men  predominated— to  be  seen 
mingled  in  various  types  of  elegance  and 


26  The  Salon 

eloquence  among  the  guests,  and  again,  abso- 
lute as  was  the  rule  of  the  mistress  of  a  salon, 
not  one  but  had  its  male  presiding  genius. 
Madame  Du  Deffand  and  President  Henault; 
Grimm  and  Madame  d'Epinay ;  these  names 
cannot  be  disassociated.  The  figure  of 
d'Alembert  is  always  to  be  seen  by  the  side 
of  Julie  de  Lespinasse,  and  Fontenelle  was 
the  chief  support  and  the  leading  bel  esprit 
in  three  successive  salons. 

The  philosophy  of  the  eighteenth  century 
has  been  called  "the  intellectual  form  of 
the  French  Revolution."  It  should  have 
a  special  definition,  for  it  possessed  a  special 
and  a  new  significance.  The  principle  of 
the  sovereignty  of  reason  dominated  this 
philosophy  and  was  the  bond  of  union  unit- 
ing a  multitudinous  and  confused  mass  of 
theories  accepted  by  men  of  otherwise  con- 
trary beliefs,  and  it  was  the  authority  of  the 
Church  rather  than  that  of  the  monarchy 
against  which  this  principle  was  directed. 
The  salon  of  the  seventeenth  century  re- 
formed manners,  raised  the  status  of  men  of 
letters,  and  gave  its  precise  and  lucid  style 


The  Evolution  of  the  Salon         27 

to  French  literature ;  in  the  eighteenth,  it 
converted  society  to  the  new  ideas  which 
had  been  there  evolved.  The  names  of 
those  who  subscribed  to  the  Encyclopedia 
were  the  great  names  of  France,  and  beside 
the  nobles  there  are  those  of  abbes,  magis- 
trates, stewards,  governors,  and  financiers.1 
Many  of  them,  after  the  example  of  the  Due 
de  la  Rochefoucauld,  joyfully  despoiled 
themselves  for  these  ideas,  in  the  first  epoch 
of  the  Revolution,  and  some,  like  Roche- 
foucauld's cousin,  the  Due  de  Liancourt, 
remained  faithful  to  them  even  throughout 
the  excesses  of  the  Revolution,  and,  in  assist- 
ing to  raise  a  new  social  structure  on  its 
ruins,  were  still  true  to  the  new  philosophy. 
It  is  one  of  the  ironies  of  history  that  the 
Revolution,  which  the  intellectual  activity  of 
the  salon  so  greatly  assisted,  should  be  the 
cause  of  its  downfall,  for  the  salon  reached  the 
highest  point  of  its  development  immediately 
prior  to  the  Revolution,  and  the  last  half  of 
the  century  saw  its  apogee  and  its  decline. 

1  Les  Philosophes  et  la  Societe  Fran$aise  au  XVlllme  Siecle,  par 
Marius  Roustan,  Lyon  et  Paris,  1906,  pp.  2  and  250. 


28  The  Salon 

There  have  been  salons  since ;  Madame  de 
StaeTs  disconnected  life,  driven  though  she 
was  from  pillar  to  post  by  Napoleon,  could 
not  debar  a  career  which  was,  with  her, 
an  inheritance ;  and  Madame  Recamier,  her 
contemporary  and  friend,  though  so  inferior 
from  an  intellectual  standpoint,  had  one  of 
the  most  renowned  and  successful  social 
careers  in  history  ;  the  salon  of  the  Princesse 
Mathilde,  surviving  dynastic  changes,  ex- 
tended into  our  own  time.  But  these  were 
exotic  growths,  anomalous  to  their  genera- 
tion. There  have  been  imitations  in  later 
times  ;  one  is  reminded  of  them  to-day  both 
in  aristocratic  quarters  and  amid  the  literary 
groups.  The  Lycee,  where  a  good  edu- 
cation is  received  at  the  public  expense,  is 
responsible  for  many  changes  in  society. 
/Women  of  no  social  position,  by  its  means, 
/^obtain  a  unique  prominence  and  power. 
But  the  historical  salon,  which  was  the  in- 
stigator of  original  thought  and  the  arbiter 
of  taste  and  manners,  was  sacrificed  by 
its  own  creation  ;  it  evoked  a  destroying 
spirit  by  whose  agency,  nevertheless,  the 


The  Evolution  of  the  Salon         29 

posrtiojT^Lwpjrien,  as  a  whole,  was  incal- 
culably raised.  The  salon  came  to  an  end 
with  that  society  in  which  alone  it  could 
reach  preeminence,  and  it  can  no  more  be 
rehabilitated  than  can  the  structure  with 
which  it  fell.  __^ 

It  is  difficult  to  realise  the  changes  which'  4* 
have  come  over  the  daily  life  of  women,  and 
especially  the  life  of  the  bourgeoisie,  within 
the  comparatively  short  time  which  has 
elapsed  since  the  Revolution.  The  walks  and 
drives,  the  multifarious  shopping,  the  ex- 
change of  visits,  the  lectures,  the  concerts  and 
plays,  with  which  a  woman  may  now  fill 
her  day,  outside  her  four  walls,  were  then 
unknown.  It  was  not  easy  or  safe  to  get 
about,  the  roads  were  dirty,  uncomfortable, 
and  even  dangerous  in  Paris  as  in  London. 
To  conduct  a  salon  it  was  obligatory  for  the 
hostess  to  be  much  at  home,  prepared  to  re- 
ceive and  to  talk.  The  Princesse  de  Conti 
offered  some  form  of  entertainment  every 
day  ;  the  Duchesse  de  Choiseul,  while  her 
husband  was  in  power,  gave  a  supper  nearly 
every  evening ;  the  Princesse  Mathilde  sel- 


30  The  Salon 

dom  stirred  from  home ;  and  the  salons, 
shrunken,  changed,  but  still  influential,  of 
later  years,  were  generally  held  by  women 
who  were  incapacitated  by  delicate  health 
from  leaving  their  own  firesides,  and  who 
were,  therefore,  always  to  be  found  ready 
for  conversation.  This  was  the  case  with 
the  Comtesse  d'  Haussonville,  the  grand- 
daughter of  Madame  de  Stael  and  the  wife 
and  mother  of  Academicians,  and  also  with 
the  Marquise  de  Blacqueville  ;  both  wrote, 
as  did  the  beautiful  and  beloved  Comtesse 
de  Boulaincourt,  who  was  an  admirable 
talker,  and  whose  varied  gifts  were  much 
admired  in  the  diplomatic  circle.  Mention 
of  these  salons  of  modern  times  would  not 
be  complete  without  the  name  of  Madame 
Aubernon  de  Nerville,  who  belonged  also  to 
this  later  period. 


v 


It  must  be  remembered  that,  before  the 
Revolution,  there  were  no  journals  to  propa- 
gate ideas  and  spread  the  news,  at  least 


The  Evolution  of  the  Salon         3 r 

none  worthy  the  name,  for  the  timid  gov- 
ernment organs,  such  as  the  official  gazettes, 
were  instituted  for  the  purpose  of  denying, 
rather  than  of  revealing  or  disseminating 
the  facts  of  the  day,  and  the  salon,  assisted 
by  the  literary  cafe,  was  the  principal  means 
by  which  opinion  on  current  events  was 
circulated. 

But  in  the  universal  political  awakening 
a  curiosity  before  unknown  sprang  up  in 
regard  to  the  social  systems  of  other  lands. 
Frenchmen  began  to  travel.  Throughout  the 
proud  reign  of  Louis  XIV,  the  French  had 
never  looked  beyond  their  own  borders, 
their  own  country  containing,  in  their  view, 
all  that  there  was  of  civilisation.  It  was 
not  until  the  eighteenth  century  that  they 
awoke  to  the  knowledge  that  there  might 
be  ideas  worthy  of  attention  elsewhere. 
England,  by  her  form  of  government,  had 
the  greatest  attraction  for  inquiring  minds, 
whilst  cultivated  Englishmen  flocked  to 
Paris,  drawn  thither  by  the  unparalleled  so- 
ciety to  be  found  in  the  brilliant  salons.  A 
social  rapprochement  between  France   and 


32  The  Salon 

England  was  the  result,  unique  in  the  his- 
tory of  nations. 

-^  It  was  the  heyday  of  Platonic  friendship. 

i  Purely  intellectual  friendships  between  men 
and  women,  and  their  value,  are  seen,  in  the 
greatest  degree,  in  the  salons  of  the  last  half 
of  the  eighteenth  century.  To  realise  this 
one  has  only  to  examine  the  ties  which  ex- 
isted between  the  Marquise  Du  Deffand  and 
Horace  Walpole,  twenty  years  her  junior ; 
between  her  friends  the  exquisite  Duchesse 
de  Choiseul  and  the  wise  Abbe  Barthelemy; 
or,  to  pass  to  her  rival,  unhappy  Julie  de 
Lespinasse,  do  we  not  always  think  of  her 
in  juxtaposition  with  d'  Alembert  ?  And 
Madame  Geoffrin's  devotion  to  the  young 
King  of  Poland,  which  caused  such  a  flutter 
throughout  Europe  in  1766;  her  friendship 
with  Fontenelle  who,  on  the  other  hand, 
was  forty-two  years  her  senior ;  the  connec- 
tion— sentimental  it  is  true — between  Rous- 
seau and  Madame  d'  Houdetot ;  these  and 
others  no  less  interesting  emphasise  the  na- 
ture of  the  remarkable  friendships  which 
flourished  in  this  period  many  of  which 


The  Evolution  of  the  Salon         33 

added  to  the  well-being,  no  less  than  to 
the  mere  enjoyment,  of  society. 

It  will  be  observed  that  these  were,  as 
a  rule,  friendships  which  were  begun  in 
maturity.  Youth,  the  time  of  life  when 
friendships  are  most  easily  and  naturally 
formed,  entered  not  at  all  into  the  scheme 
of  intellectual  eighteenth-century  society 
which  was  marked  by  the  absolute  and 
undisputed  reign  of  maturity  and  even 
age.  The  friendship  which  united  Madame 
Du  Deffand  and  Horace  Walpole,  Madame 
Geoffrin  and  Fontenelle,  each  begun  when 
one  was  in  middle  life  and  the  other  old, 
was  not  an  idiosyncrasy  but  was  represen- 
tative of  the  times. 

The  influence  of  women  in  France  by  the 
middle  of  the  eighteenth  century  had  become 
so  powerful  that  a  man  could  hardly  rise  with- 
out the  co-operation  of  some  one  of  them 
or,  if  he  should  succeed,  he  still  remained 
obscure,  unheeded  ;  and  if,  for  instance,  an 
Englishman  living  in  Paris  should  attempt, 
as  did  Bolingbroke,  to  form  a  men's  club, 
in  imitation  of  those  so  popular  in  England, 


34  The  Salon 

it  would  have  met  with  the   same  fate — 
ignored  by  the  women,  and  watched  by  the 
authorities,  it  quickly  died  a  natural  death. 
"[  4  In   France,  and  in   France  alone  in  the 

eighteenth  century  the  men  and  women 
followed  the  same  pursuits  and  met  con- 
tinually. It  was  a  natural  result,  there- 
fore, that  women  should  borrow  mental 
strength  and  independence  from  men,  and 
men  gentleness  and  refinement  from  women. 
"In  each  society,"  writes  Saint  Preux  to 
Julie,1  "  the  mistress  of  the  house  is  almost 
always  alone  in  the  midst  of  a  circle  of  men. 
.  .  .  .  It  is  there  that  she  learns  to  speak, 
act,  and  think  like  them,  and  they  like  her." 
Yet  the  idea  that  women  should  assume 
any  of  the  attributes  of  men  was  repugnant 
to  Rousseau  and  was  contrary  to  his  scheme 
of  society.  He  admitted,  indeed,  that 
women  were  frivolous,  deceitful,  and  in- 
constant : — 

Speaking  much  but  thinking  little,  feeling  still  less, 
and  wasting  the  best  of  themselves  in  vain  chatter. 

1  Julie   ou  la  Nouvelle  He'loise,  }.-}.     Rousseau,  Paris:     Gamier 
Freres,  p.  215. 


The  Evolution  of  the  Salon         35 

But  he  added:  All  this  appears  to  me  to  be  their  ex- 
terior, like  their  paniers  and  rouge.  These  are  showy 
vices  which  it  is  necessary  to  have  in  Paris,  and  which 
in  reality  cover  sense,  kindness,  natural  goodness. 
They  are  less  indiscreet,  less  busy-bodies  than  .  . 
elsewhere.     They  are  more  solidly  educated,  and  they 

profit  better  from  their  instruction. 

He  could  not  therefore  but  admire  women 
who  had  attained  intellectual  eminence  but 
at  the  same  time  he  feared  that  they  were 
going  outside  their  proper  sphere.  "In  a 
word,  if  they  displease  me  by  all  that  charac- 
terises their  sex  which  they  have  disfigured, 
I  esteem  them  by  their  conformity  to  ours 
which  does  us  honour ;  and  I  find  that  they 
would  a  hundred  times  rather  be  great  men 
than  amiable  women. " J  Of  this  exceptional 
condition  of  society,  the  salon  of  the  later 
eighteenth  century  was  a  representative  pro- 
duct that  could  only  have  existed  in  Paris, 
which,  if  it  were  the  centre  of  the  worst 
follies,  still  remained  the  intellectual  capital 
of  Europe,  and  a  capital  in  which  the  in- 
tellectual quality  constantly  predominated. 

1  Julie,  J.  -J.  Rousseau.      Paris:    Gamier  Freres,  p.   222. 


36  The  Salon 

"When  a  man  of  weight  introduces  se- 
rious conversation  .  .  .  common  atten- 
tion is  at  once  fixed  on  this  new  subject; 
men,  women,  the  old,  the  young,  all  are 
ready  to  consider  it  in  all  its  parts,  and  one 
is  astonished  at  the  sense  and  reason  which 
is  brought  forth  at  will  from  all  these  giddy 
heads."1  And  it  was  in  this  brilliant  com- 
pany that  the  mistress  of  a  salon  achieved 
her  fame,  impressing  all  those  with  whom 
she  came  in  contact  with  her  power. 
"Everything,"  Rousseau  remarks,  apropos 
of  the  influence  which  women  possessed  in 
Paris,  "depends  on  her;  nothing  is  done  but 
by  her  or  for  her;  Olympus  and  Parnassus, 
glory  and  fortune,  are  equally  under  their 
laws.  Books  have  a  price,  authors  esteem, 
only  so  far  as  it  pleases  women  to  accord 
it."  2 


VI 


Julie,  wherein  Rousseau  thus    describes 
the  worth,  the  weaknesses,  and  the  power 

i  Julie,  J. -J.  Rousseau.     Paris  :   Gamier  Freres,  p.  296. 
2  Ibid.,  p.  221. 


The  Evolution  of  the  Salon         37 

of  the  Frenchwoman,  appeared  in  1760, 
when  the  salon  was  approaching  the  culmi- 
nating point  in  its  history.  At  this  moment 
four  particular  salons  were  either  fully  de- 
veloped or  in  process  of  formation,  each  of 
which  represented  a  different  stratum  of 
society,  and  which,  if  not  equally  powerful, 
were  each  representative  of  an  influential 
circle.  Precedence  among  these  must  be 
given  the  salon  of  Madame  Du  Deffand.  So- 
cially and  intellectually  superior  herself,  her 
salon  was  distinguished  by  its  select  quality. 
The  critical  note  in  her  Lettres  indicates  her 
intellectual  fastidiousness,  and  in  her  salon 
the  conversation  was  the  wittiest,  the  bright- 
est and  lightest,  and  the  society  the  most 
exclusive.  Difficult  to  please,  she  inflexibly 
denied  admittance  to  any  who  did  not  fulfil 
her  exacting  requirements.  But  from  this 
very  circumstance,  in  variety  and  in  num- 
bers, and  so  in  the  extent  of  her  influence, 
Madame  Geoffrin,  who  did  not  even  pretend 
to  know  how  to  spell,  excelled  her. 

The  salon  of  Julie  de  Lespinasse  rivalled 
both  that  of  Madame  Du  Deffand  and  that 


38  The  Salon 

of  Madame  Geoffrin,  containing  the  critical 
and  aristocratic  features  of  the  one  and  the 
philosophical  element  for  which  the  other 
was  celebrated,  but  in  her  own  pre-emi- 
nently feminine  fashion  Julie  de  Lespi- 
nasse  undoubtedly  stood  alone.  Her 
spontaneous  and  enthusiastic  tempera- 
ment, added  to  the  genuine  quality  of  her 
character,  made  her  beloved  above  any 
other  of  those  who  aspired  to  a  salon. 
"  Madame  Geoffrin  was  feared  ;  Madame  Du 
DefTand  admired ;  Madame  Necker  respected; 
,  .  .  Julie  de  Lespinasse  loved."1  In  the 
field  of  the  emotions  lay  her  peculiar  claim 
to  fame,  and  in  this  region  of  alternate  storm 
and  sunshine  she  was  without  parallel.  As 
in  the  case  of  Madame  Du  Deffand,  it  was 
the  posthumous  publication  of  her  letters 
which  brought  Julie  de  Lespinasse  into  liter- 
ary prominence,  letters  written,  with  the 
exception  of  a  few  phrases  which  reflect  the 
influence  of  Rousseau,  without  affectation 
and  in  the  purest  style. 

1  Julie  de  Lespinasse,  par  le  Marquis  de  Segur.      Paris  :   Calmann- 
Levy,  p.   ioo. 


The  Evolution  of  the  Salon         39 

Madame  d'  Epinay  belonged  by  birth  to 
the  old  noblesse,  and  her  marriage  to  a  bour- 
geois financier  illustrates  the  modern  rise  and 
growth  of  wealth  as  a  power  in  society. 
The  combination  of  family  and  money  in  this 
marriage  throws  into  relief  the  constructive 
phase  amid  the  contradictory  elements  which 
were  at  work  in  France.  She  wrote  on 
education,  and  her  Memoires,  which  are  an 
invaluable  key  to  the  epoch,  show  her 
philosophical  order  of  mind. 

How  then  is  it  possible  that  Madame 
Geoffrin,  of  common  origin,  moderate  means, 
and  with  no  intellectual  pretensions,  should 
have  aspired  to  and  have  obtained  a  place 
among  the  leaders  of  the  most  cultivated 
and  intellectual  society,  and  the  most  lavish 
in  expenditure,  that  the  world  had  to  offer  ? 
And  not  alone  have  gained  a  foothold  but, 
in  power  and  in  influence,  have  surpassed 
them  all  ?  For  that  this  did  happen  is  in- 
disputably true. 

In  her  native  character  in  part,  at  least, 
may  be  found  the  answer.  She  was  am- 
bitious ;   she   possessed  a  strong  will  ;  she 


4o  The  Salon 

was  persistent.  And  she  was  blest  with  the 
solid  virtue  of  common  sense.  It  was  her 
predominant  quality.  The  success  of  Ma- 
dame Geoffrin  may  also  be  laid  to  the  times 
in  which  she  lived.  Louis  XV  was  forced  to 
pay  a  heavy  price  for  the  withdrawal  of  the 
court  from  Paris.  The  King's  absence,  from 
a  monarchical  point  of  view,  had  a  disastrous 
effect  on  his  capital.  It  laid  the  foundation 
of  its  independence.  The  court  no  longer 
led  the  ideas  and  taste  any  more  than  it  did 
the  fashion  of  the  ancient  city.  The  court 
met  at  Versailles,  and  Paris  went  its  own 
way,establishing,to  the  undoing  of  the  court, 
an  alliance  between  its  intelligence  and  its 
wealth  ;  and  it  was  now  the  genius  of  Paris, 
its  pride,  its  grace,  its  learning,  its  laughter, 
which  dominated  Europe.1 

It  can  easily  be  seen,  therefore,  that  the 
times  were  propitious  for  the  furtherance  of 
personal  ambition  among  the  bourgeoisie. 
In  the  previous  century,  Madame  Geoffrin 
could  not  have  hoped  to  succeed  in  the  plan 

1  Portraits  Intimes  du  Dix-Huilieme  Steele,   E.   and  J.  de  Gon- 
court.      Paris:  Bibliotheque-Charpentier,     1897,  p.  137. 


The  Evolution  of  the  Salon        41 

of  life  which,  with  consummate  method, 
energy,and  skill, she  systematically  followed 
throughout  her  long  career ;  she  was  now 
assisted  by  the  forces  of  destiny  itself. 

VII 

Great  forces  were  indeed,  as  we  now 
perceive,  at  work  amid  this  brilliant  soci- 
ety. The  phrase  Liberte,  Iigalite,  Fraternity 
born  of  the  Revolution,  has  become  so  well 
known  as  almost,  by  popular  repetition,  to 
have  lost  its  immense  significance.  Now 
the  watchwords  of  a  peaceful  Republic, 
they  are  the  negation  of  everything  political 
in  France  before  the  Revolution,  but  at  that 
very  time  the  ideas  on  which  these  words 
are  founded  were  put  in  practice  in  the 
salon. 

From  the  inception  of  the  salon  perfect 
intellectual  liberty,  liberty  of  thought  and 
liberty  of  discussion,  was  the  very  basis  of 
the  intercourse  of  which  it  was  the  cen- 
tre, whether  in  the  grand  apartments  of 
Madame  de  Rambouillet  and  Madame  de 
Lambert  or,  later,    in   the    modest    rooms 


42  The  Salon 

of  Madame  de  Tencin  and  of  Julie  de 
Lespinasse. 

The  sense  of  fraternity,  of  good  comrade- 
ship, of  sympathy,  was  a  paramount  feature 
of  the  gatherings  in  the  convent  of  Saint 
Joseph  as  in  the  rue  Saint  Honore,  though, 
as  in  every  civilised  society,  be  it  small  or 
great,  rules  of  conduct  were  necessary,  and 
rulers  to  enforce  them.  The  mistress  of  a 
salon  proved  herself  adequate  both  to  formu- 
late the  laws  which  governed  it  and  to 
undertake  the  duties  of  the  lawgiver. 

Equality  of  sex,  of  mind,  and  of  person  was 
never  more  conspicuous  than  in  the  salon 
of  the  eighteenth  century.  There  the  brilliant 
woman  was  listened  to  as  attentively  as  the 
most  erudite  philosopher,  and  the  words  of 
Madame  Du  Deffand  were  as  acceptable  as 
the  propositions  of  d'Alembert.  Rank  did 
not  make  a  man  welcome  unless  with  it 
were  combined  engaging  qualities  of  mind 
and  manner  and,  thanks  to  common  intel- 
lectual interests,  the  barriers  of  condition 
and  of  creed  were,  for  the  time,  equally  put 
aside. 


The  Evolution  of  the  Salon         43 

In  the  salon,  therefore,  we  find  in  active 
movement  the  ideas  which  were,  when  ap- 
plied to  existing  political  and  social  facts,  to 
overthrow  the  old  regime. 


MADAME    DU    DEFFAND 

1697.     Birth. 

1 7 1 8.     Marriage. 

1728.     Separates  from  her  husband. 

1730.     Enters  into  relations  with  President  Henault. 

1739.     Foundation  of  salon,  rue  de  Beaune. 

1747.  Takes  up  her  residence  at  the  convent  of  Saint 
Joseph,  rue  Saint  Dominique.  Salon  en- 
larged. 

1752.  Threatened    with     blindness.     Leaves    Paris. 

Meeting  with  Julie  de  Lespinasse. 

1 753.  Returns  to  the  convent  of  Saint  Joseph,  in  Paris, 

and  reopens  her  salon. 

1754.  Is  joined  by  Julie  de  Lespinasse. 

1764.  Rupture  with  Julie  de  Lespinasse  and  loss  of 

d'Alembert. 

1765.  Beginning  of  friendship  with  Horace  Walpole. 
1780.     Death. 


44 


MADAME  DU  DEFFAND 


TT  is  not  always  those  who  have  taken  the 
most  active  and  prominent  share  in  their 
time  who  are  remembered  by  posterity,  but 
persons  who  have  had  next  to  no  influence 
on  the  current  of  events.  The  names  of  many 
of  the  leading  politicians  and  writers  of 
France  in  the  eighteenth  century  are  now 
seldom  spoken,  whilst  some  brilliant  women 
who  never  wrote  a  book  and  never  upset 
a  minister  appear  to  live  with  a  vitality 
which  has  even  a  tendency  to  increase. 
It  may  be  that  this  arises  to  some  extent 
because  they  are  types,  and  whether  in 
history  or  in  fiction  it  is  the  typical  char- 
acter that  lives.  And  there  is  another  thing 
to  be  said  of  Madame  Du  Deffand,  who  is 
undoubtedly  such  a  woman  as  I  have  de- 
scribed— she  offers  such  contrasts.  There  is  a 

45 


46  The  Salon 

monotony  of  character  about  leading  figures 
in  the  political  or  the  literary  world  which 
drives  the  average  reader  to  the  novel-writer 
for  refreshment ;  but  if  he  can  find  a  man  or 
a  woman  in  real  life  who  strikes  by  contrast 
with  commonplace  people,  such  a  person  at 
once  gains  something  of  the  interest  of  the 
hero  or  heroine  of  the  story  ;  and  what 
arouses  our  curiosity  and  holds  our  atten- 
tion in  Madame  Du  Deffand  is  that  contrast 
of  character  and  life  by  which  she  is  always 
startling  us. 

Madame  Du  Deffand  is  commonly  remem- 
bered in  England  as  the  blind  old  friend  of 
Horace  Walpole,  who  was  haunted  by  the 
absurd  fear  that  the  connexion  of  his  name 
with  that  of  a  personage  much  more  famous 
than  himself— perhaps  the  most  famous  liv- 
ing woman — would  bring  down  ridicule  upon 
him,  simply  because  she  was  old.  When 
their  friendship  began,  Walpole  was,  in  the 
estimation  of  his  contemporaries,  a  mere  dil- 
ettante ;  it  was  the  publication  of  his  corre- 
spondence after  his  death  which  gave  his 
name  the  celebrity  it  now  obtains.      But  by 


Madame  Du  Deffand 
Fron  Artist  unknown 


Madame  Du  Deffand  47 

becoming  more  and  more  famous  up  to  the 
time  of  her  death,  the  picture  of  Madame 
Du  Deffand,  young,  beautiful,  and  fascinat- 
ing, is  overshadowed  by  the  more  unusual 
figure  of  a  woman,  old,  infirm,  confined  in 
a  few  small  rooms  in  a  convent,  but  attract- 
ing by  the  brightness  of  her  mind  every 
one,  young  and  old,  who  came  within  her 
influence.  It  was  in  her  youth,  long  before 
Walpole  knew  her,  that  Voltaire  wrote  : 

"Qui  vous  voit  et  qui  vous  entend 
Perd  bientot  sa  philosophic; 
Et  tout  sage  avec  du  Deffand 
Voudrait  en  fou  passer  sa  vie." 

A  philosopher  herself,  her  quarrel  with  the 
philosophers  never  ceased,  nor  did  her 
friendship  with  their  chief  thinker. 

In  Madame  Du  Deffand's  lifetime  three 
kings  successively  occupied  the  throne  of 
France,  and  the  Due  d'  Orleans,  as  Regent, 
in  whose  life  she  for  a  short  time  played  a 
leading  role,  added  to  the  demoralisation  of 
society  by  his  private  life,  notwithstanding 
his  public  virtues.  She  also  may  be  said  to 
have  reigned  by  right  of  her  intellectual  and 


48  The  Salon 

social  pre-eminence,  a  rule  which  continued 
throughout  the  period  of  uncertainty  and 
unrest  which  separated  the  old  from  the  new 
order,  when  ancient  faith  and  ways  of 
thought  were  faltering  before  the  impulse 
and  rush  of  the  new  ideals  with  which  the 
minds  of  Frenchmen  were  then  filled. 

In  the  early  years  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury, when  the  life  of  Louis  XIV,  and  that 
era  which  the  French  call  le  grand  siecle, 
with  its  wars,  its  glories,  its  tyrannies,  and 
its  taxations,  was  drawing  to  a  close,  and 
when  dress,  manners,  art,  and  literature 
touched,  and  lingered  for  a  brief  moment 
at  the  summit  of  richness,  elegance,  and  re- 
finement— a  fine,  if  decaying,  fruit  of  civ- 
ilisation— men  still  clung  to  the  old  social 
conditions.  It  was  when  the  effect  of  the 
new  ideas  which  attacked  at  once  the 
State,  the  Church,  and  the  family,  was  be- 
ginning to  be  felt,  that  Madame  Du  Deffand 
attained  her  majority  and  entered  into  this 
rapidly  changing  world. 

Her  portrait  shows  us  a  woman  of  clever 
and  keen   rather  than  beautiful  aspect,  but 


Madame  Du  Deffand  49 

we  are  told  so  frequently  by  her  contem- 
poraries of  her  beauty,  charm,  and  grace 
that  we  must  abide  by  their  decision.  Her 
life,  after  the  first  reckless  plunge  into  the 
fashionable  and  corrupt  world  about  her, 
may  be  said  to  have  been  uneventful  out- 
wardly, and  thenceforward  she  lived  chiefly 
an  intellectual  existence,  though  she  has 
left  little  besides  her  letters  to  mark  it ;  a 
short  play,  inimitable  pen  portraits,  a  few 
verses  are  all  we  have.  These  and  her  let- 
ters are  sufficient,  however,  to  show  the 
precision  of  mind,  the  sure  judgment,  the 
exquisite  literary  taste,  and  the  capacity 
which  made  men  of  the  keenest  intellect 
her  admirers. 


Marie  de  Vichy  Champrond,  afterward 
Marquise  Du  Deffand,  was  born  in  1697,  a 
year  after  the  death  of  Madame  de  Sevigne, 
her  great  rival  as  a  letter  writer.  The  place 
of  her  birth  is  somewhat  uncertain,  but 
it  is  probable  that  it  was  the  chateau  de 
Champrond,   Saone-et-Loire.     Her  parents 


50  The  Salon 

both  belonged  to  noblefamilies  of  Bourgogne. 
At  six,  according  to  usage,  taken  from  the 
arms  of  her  nurse,  she  was  placed  in  a  con- 
vent— that  of  Sainte  Madeleine  du  Traisnel 
in  Paris. 

Madame  Du  Deffand  early  saw  and  com- 
bated every  form  of  deceit ;  a  passionate 
desire  for  truth  was  her  dominant  charac- 
teristic; it  is  seen  in  her  references  to  her 
education,  of  which  she  often  speaks  bit- 
terly as  the  cause  of  all  the  unhappiness  of 
her  life ;  she  possessed,  and  made  use  of  to 
a  remarkable  degree,  that  third  eye  of  which 
Goethe  speaks  by  which  we  are  able  to  ob- 
serve ourselves  and  our  own  actions  as  well 
as  those  of  others,  an  unprejudiced  and 
judicial  eye  which  takes  note  of  all  that 
passes  and  weighs  and  judges.  Such  a 
mind  is  never  satisfied  with  accepted  truths, 
with  dull  routine  or  with  petty  details  of 
commonplace  living;  contentment  does  not 
come  readily  to  soaring  spirits  which,  in  a 
world  where  mediocrity  obtains,  flutter  use- 
lessly against  the  walls  of  environment,  only 
to  be  hurt  by  aspiration.     Independent  and 


Madame  Du  Deffand  51 

curious  and  enthusiastic,  she  wished  to 
criticise,  to  examine,  to  know  for  herself. 

So  disturbing,  even  in  childhood,  were 
her  questions  on  religion  that  Massillon 
was  sent  to  argue  with  the  precocious  child 
in  her  convent.  She  trembled  before  the 
august  presence  of  the  renowned  ecclesi- 
astic, but  not  before  his  reasoning.  Indeed, 
the  young  pensionnaire  sustained  the  dis- 
cussion with  so  much  sound  sense  that  the 
future  prelate  left  her  more  struck  with 
her  intelligence  than  scandalised  by  her 
heresies. 

In  the  year  17 18  she  was  married  to  the 
Marquis  Du  Deffand  de  la  Lande.  It  was  the 
usual  manage  de  convenance  and  was  late 
for  the  wedding-day  of  so  much  wit  and 
beauty,  but  her  dot  was  small  and  the  Mar- 
quis was  undoubtedly  the  first  suitor  who 
was  presented  and,  as  he  possessed  the 
necessary  qualifications,  the  marriage  was 
concluded  without  delay.  Unhappily,  how- 
ever, it  united  two  persons  dissimilar  in 
character  and  temperament,  a  fact  which 
was  soon  realised,  especially  by  the  young 


52  The  Salon 

wife  who  quickly  tired  of  her  prosaic  hus- 
band, and  so  they  separated  by  amicable 
agreement.  Once  independent,  Madame 
Du  Deffand  did  not  hesitate  to  enter  upon 
the  life  of  pleasure  of  the  period;  among 
the  gayest  of  the  fashionable  world, 
beautiful  and  bright,  she  at  once  took  a 
place  among  the  reigning  favourites.  But 
she  early  emerged  from  some  of  the  worst 
phases  of  society,  and  was  soon  cured 
of  the  passion  for  gambling,  the  scandal 
of  the  time.  Years  afterwards  she  wrote 
to  Mr.  Crawford,  "  I  could,  perhaps,  pro- 
cure you  some  amusements ;  but  there  is 
only  one  for  you,  which  is  your  cursed  play. 
Oh,  what  a  detestable  passion  is  play;  I 
had  it  three  months  ;  it  took  me  from  every- 
thing. I  thought  of  nothing  else.  Biribi 
was  the  game  I  loved.  I  was  horrified  at 
myself  and  I  cured  myself  of  that  folly."1 
Gaming  was  indulged  in  to  an  even  greater 
excess  abroad  than  in  England.  In  Paris  the 
houses  of  private  gentlemen  were  thrown 

1  Correspondence  complete  de  Madame  Du  D.  avec  la  duchesse 
de  Choiseul,  l'abbe  Barthelerny  et  M.  Crawfurt,  publiee  par  M.  le 
marquis  de  Sainte-Aulaire.      Paris,  1877,  t.  i.,  p.  86. 


Madame  Du  Deffand  53 

open  to  the  public,  provided  they  played, 
and  at  night  the  streets  were  lighted  with 
fire-pots  before  the  houses  of  the  grand 
seigneurs  which  were  converted  into  gam- 
ing establishments.  Even  princesses  of  the 
blood  were  not  ashamed  to  profit  by  banks 
established  in  their  houses. 

On  Madame  Du  Deffand's  entrance  into 
society  her  most  intimate  associates  were  of 
a  character  ill  calculated  to  the  leading  of  a 
reasonable  life.  Her  first  friend  was  Madame 
de  Prie,  wife  of  the  French  Ambassador 
at  Turin,  whose  life  offers  few  redeeming 
features,  though  she  was  not  wanting  in 
esprit.  When  Madame  Du  Deffand  ac- 
companied her  to  Normandy  whither  she 
had  been  exiled,  they  characteristically  be- 
gan the  day  by  exchanging  verses  before 
getting  up  in  the  morning.  Madame  de 
Prie  lived  a  dissolute  life  and,  according 
to  the  gossip  of  the  time,  died  a  wretched 
death,  though  Madame  Du  Deffand  declared 
that  she  died  simply  from  regret  at  no  longer 
possessing  any  political  influence.  Next 
Madame  de  Parabere  showed  her  the  ways 


54  The  Salon 

of  her  unscrupulous  world,  introducing  her 
to  the  Regent's  little  suppers,  which  set  the 
fashion  for  this  form  of  entertainment,  con- 
doling with  her  on  her  marriage,  and  regret- 
ting that  she  had  not  instead  taken  the  vows 
of  a  canoness. 

In  that  case  you  would  nave  been  free;  well  placed 
•everywhere;  with  the  status  of  a  married  woman;  an 
income  which  permits  one  to  live  and  accept  aid  from 
others;  the  independence  of  a  widow,  without  the 
ties  which  a  family  imposes;  unquestioned  rank, 
which  you  would  owe  to  no  one;  indulgence  and 
impunity.  For  these  advantages  there  is  only  the 
trouble  of  wearing  a  cross,  which  is  becoming;  black 
or  grey  habits,  which  can  be  made  as  magnificent  as 
one  likes;  a  little  imperceptible  veil,  and  a  knitting 
sheath. 

Such  tuition  was  not  without  its  influence. 
1  will  not  attempt  to  give  a  detailed  ac- 
count of  the  manner  of  Madame  Du  Deffand's 
life  at  this  period,  or  relate  her  connexion 
with  Phillipe  d'Orleans,  and  with  his  ac- 
complished confidant  in  all  manner  of  wild 
dissipation,  Delrieu  Du  Fargis,  or  her  differ- 
ent experiences  in  the  life  of  Paris  of  the 
period.  Abbe  Galiani  said  that  the  women 
of  the  eighteenth  century  loved  with  their 


Madame  Du  Deffand  55 

minds  and  not  with  their  hearts,  and  it  is 
always  clear  that  Madame  Du  Deffand's 
heart  was  never  in  these  enterprises  but 
remained  untouched  until,  in  blind  old  age, 
a  pale  flower  of  love  should  bloom  to  be  at 
once  her  expiation  and  her  solace. 

Long,  however,  before  this  singular  event, 
Madame  Du  Deffand,  unhappy,  troubled, 
bored  by  her  unsettled  mode  of  life,  made 
an  effort  to  enter  into  closer  relations  with 
her  husband.  In  1728  a  very  curious  letter 
was  written  in  which  are  related  the  whole 
circumstances  of  this  unsuccessful  attempt 
at  reconciliation.  Monsieur  Du  Deffand  was 
placed  on  probation  ;  he  did  not  succeed  in 
pleasing;  overcome  by  the  aversion  and  wea- 
riness, which  the  lady  could  not  conceal,  the 
unlucky  husband  did  not  linger,  but  at  once 
saved  the  situation  by  taking  his  leave. 

In  her  gay  and  uncontrolled  youth  we  find 
Madame  Du  Deffand  occasionally  flitting 
from  town  to  famous  chateaux,  of  which 
many  were  reduced  to  ruins  in  the  Revolu- 
tion. We  meet  her  bright  face  in  the  north 
with  Madame  de  Prie  at  Courebevine,  with 


56  The  Salon 

the  Presidente  de  Berniere  at  La  Riviere 
Bourdet,  and  on  the  banks  of  the  Loire  in 
old  Touraine.  She  was  one  of  the  little 
court  at  Sceaux  gathered  about  the  grand- 
daughter of  the  great  Conde,  Louise  de 
Bourbon,  the  ambitious,  intriguing  brilliant 
Duchesse  du  Maine,  who  did  not  a  little  to 
retain  for  her  the  good  graces  of  society. 
For,  after  the  second  and  final  dismissal  of 
her  husband,  her  friends  pretended  to  be 
shocked  at  what  was  called  the  lightness  ol 
Madame  Du  DefTand's  behaviour  towards 
him,  though  it  was  probable  that  it  was 
taste — the  one  unpardonable  sin  in  Paris — 
that  was  offended.  But  though  Madame  Du 
Deffand  in  her  youth  paid  little  regard  to 
some  of  the  rules  which  govern  society,  she 
had  good  instincts  and  loved  orderly  con- 
duct. Her  youth  was  reckless  rather  from 
the  force  of  adverse  circumstances  than  from 
pure  love  of  pleasure,  and  her  intellect  was 
far  too  clear  to  allow  her  to  continue  in  a 
material  and  voluptuous  existence.  At 
Sceaux,  indeed,  where  the  Duchesse  du 
Maine's  passion  for  wit  and  brilliant  con- 


Madame  Du  Deffand  57 

versation  produced  the  saying  that  her  guests 
were  condemned  to  the  "  galeres  du  bel 
esprit/'  Madame  Du  Deffand  was  the  one 
whose  company  was  most  desired.  We 
read  in  the  Memoires  of  Madame  de  Stael, 
the  humbly  born,  but  clever  companion  of 
the  Duchess  this  tribute  to  her  talents  : 

No  one  has  more  wit  or  is  more  natural.  The 
sparkling  fire  which  animates  her  penetrates  the  in- 
most thought,  draws  it  out,  and  throws  into  relief  the 
faintest  lines.  She  possesses  to  a  supreme  degree  the 
talent  of  painting  character,  and  her  portraits,  more 
living  than  the  originals,  make  them  better  known 
than  the  most  intimate  connexion  with  them.  She 
gave  me  an  entirely  new  idea  of  this  style  of  writing.1 

A  power  of  description  in  letters,  the 
fashionable  mental  distraction  of  the  early 
years  of  the  century,  and  which  had  not 
yet  lost  vogue,  was  the  one  of  her  literary 
gifts  by  which  Madame  Du  Deffand  best 
pleased  her  contemporaries.  She  had  a 
masculine  order  of  mind,  and  all  her  writings 
are  clear,  terse,  just,  and  sensible.  She  said 
that  she  did  not  know  a  rule  of  grammar,  and 

1  Nouvelle  Collection  des  Memoires,  Michaud  et  Poujoulat,  Troi- 
sieme  Serie,  p.  758. 


58  The  Salon 

that  she  expressed  herself  by  chance,  inde- 
pendent of  all  method  and  all  art,  but  in 
modern  times  Sainte-Beuve  has  ranked  her 
letters  as,  next  to  Voltaire's  works,  the  purest 
classics  of  the  epoch,  and  d'Alembert  rated 
her  style  with  that  of  Madame  de  Sevigne. 
These  remarkable  women  were  alike  in  many 
ways — in  wit,  and  in  the  irksomeness  which 
everyday  life  had  for  them  and,  if  the  letters 
of  Madame  Du  Deffand  are  wanting  in  the 
attractive  spontaneity  of  those  of  Madame 
de  Sevigne,  they  show  a  clearer  insight  into 
character.  Madame  de  Sevigne's  mind  was 
objective,  Madame  Du  Deffand's  was  subjec- 
tive to  the  last  degree. 

It  was  Madame  Du  Deffand  who  urged  the 
pleasure-loving  abbes  to  their  brightest  sallies 
of  wit,  and  she  was  the  favourite  whom  Vol- 
taire hoped  to  meet  even  when  he  had  for 
companion  the  learned  Marquise  du  Chatelet, 
his  divine  Emilie.  Though  among  the  com- 
pany at  Sceaux  which  included  Madame  de 
Lambert  and  the  admirable  Fontenelle,  La 
Motte  and  d'Alembert,  Madame  Du  Deffand 
was  the  acknowledged  leader,  those  assem- 


Madame  Du  Deffand  59 

bled  there  were,  according  to  Voltaire  and 
Malesieux,  mere  slaves  of  their  hostess  and 
though  rules  were  relaxed  for  the  spirituelle 
Marquise,  whose  presence  was  indispensable, 
and  who  had  the  choice  of  apartments  and 
the  day  at  her  disposal  still  she,  whose  inde- 
pendent spirit  chafed  at  the  smallest  restric- 
tion, must  often  have  found  these  visits  a 
trial.  The  death  of  the  Duchess  in  1753,  how- 
ever, freed  her  from  the  tax  of  this  friendship. 
The  very  contrasts  of  Madame  Du  Def- 
fand's  many-sided  character  were  largely  her 
charm  :  at  once  unaffected  and  artificial  her 
life  had  been  inconstant  yet  faithful ;  ever 
feeling  the  need  of  friendship  and  companion- 
ship, no  woman  was  more  indifferent ; 
possessing  little  sentiment,  she  was  not 
wanting  in  sensibility,  and  she  sought  in 
society  a  relief  from  the  ennui  which  she 
declared  was  continual ;  suspicious  and  con- 
fiding, in  her  own  and  other  salons  she  could 
be  in  the  same  hour  wise  and  frivolous,  grave 
and  gay.  It  was  probably  at  Sceaux  that 
this  fascinating  woman  first  met  President 
Henault,  and  began  that  intimacy   which 


60  The  Salon 

lasted  while  he  lived,  though  she  always 
had  a  rival,  even  after  the  lady's  death,  in 
Madame  de  Castelmoron.  One  of  the  most 
intellectual,  gifted,  and  charming  of  this 
brilliant  circle,  writer,  statesman,  wit,  and 
beau,  President  Henault  naturally  appealed 
to  a  woman  who  was  herself  equally  versa- 
tile. Between  him  and  herself  there  already 
existed  a  tie  through  her  aunt  the  Duchesse 
de  Luynes,  for  whom  Madame  Du  Deffand 
had  a  deep  affection.  On  her  side,  the 
Duchess  had  given  her  sister's  child  from 
wayward  youth  much  loving  care  and 
thought  and  the  older  woman's  irreproach- 
able life  and  assured  position  offered  se- 
curity to  Madame  Du  Deffand  who,  though 
afraid  neither  of  philosophers  nor  priests, 
stood  in  awe  of  this  lofty  character  and 
substantial  friend,  whose  reproaches  alone 
she  feared,  and  whose  advice  in  affairs 
to  which  she  attached  importance  she 
always  asked.  Her  position  in  the  Queen's 
household  and  the  consideration  shown 
her  gave  the  Duchesse  de  Luynes  many 
opportunities    to  forward  the    interests  of 


From  an  Engraving  by  Moitte  after  the  Painting  by  St.  Aubit 


Madame  Du  Deffand  61 

her  friends.  President  Henault  made  her 
acquaintance  in  1716  ;  he  pleased  her,  and 
it  was  she  who  introduced  him  to  the  Queen, 
Marie  Leczinska.  Through  her  good  offices 
he  was  given  the  post  of  superintendent  of 
the  house,  which  procured  for  him,  besides 
the  five  hundred  thousand  livres  which  ap- 
pertained to  the  former  occupant,  an  addi- 
tional fifteen  hundred  francs.  For  Madame 
Du  Deffand  she  obtained  a  pension  of  two 
thousand  crowns  from  the  Queen's  treasury. 

President  Henault  did  not  forget  what  he 
owed  the  Duchess.  "  She  has  all  the  quali- 
ties of  a  most  honest  man  ;  noble,  generous, 
faithful,  discreet,  enemy  to  all  irony,  pro- 
scribing slander  which  never  approaches  her 
house,  considered  by  all  the  royal  family, 
whom  she  sometimes  receives,"1  he  wrote 
in  his  Memoires. 

After  her  second  short  and  infelicitous  trial 
of  domestic  life  Madame  Du  Deffand  lived 
with  her  brother,  the  treasurer  of  Sainte- 
Chapelle,  until  1742,  when  she  changed  her 

1  Memoires  du  President  Henault.  Paris,  E.  Dentu,  1855, 
p.  191. 


62  The  Salon 

quarters  to  the  rue  de  Beaune,  taking  rooms 
in  the  small  house  where  Voltaire  subse- 
quently died.  Here  the  first  representatives 
of  the  world  of  fashion  and  letters  were  to 
be  found  and  the  brilliant  company  soon  be- 
gan to  be  talked  about. 

But  it  is  the  modest  apartment  in  the  con- 
vent of  Saint -Joseph,  first  occupied  by 
Madame  Du  Deffand  in  1747,  which  is 
known  as  her  salon.  Founded  by  Madame 
de  Montespan,  this  religious  house  is  now 
merged  into  the  War  Office  of  the  Republic ; 
but  if  one  turns  off  the  old  aristocratic  boule- 
vard Saint-Germain  and  strolls  down  the  rue 
Saint-Dominique,  its  yellow  walls  and  sunny 
court  may  still  be  seen.  The  graceful  spires 
of  Sainte-Clotilde  have  since  sprung  high 
aloft  across  the  place  before  its  grated  win- 
dows, and  the  old  bridges  that  span  the  Seine 
have  been  cleared  of  the  picturesque  four- 
story  buildings  that  then  encumbered 
them;  but  the  Palais  Bourbon,  now  the 
Chamber  of  Deputies,  whose  erection  Ma- 
dame Du  Deffand  must  have  witnessed,  is 
just  around  the  corner;  it  was  the  heart  of 


Madame  Du  Deffand  63 

the  fashionable  quarter  of  Paris.  Long  before 
she  entered  it,  the  convent  had  received 
many  well-known  persons  within  its  shelter, 
beginning  with  the  celebrated  protectress 
herself.  The  Pretender  lived  here  in  hiding 
three  years  under  the  most  extraordinary  and 
romantic  conditions,  smuggled  mysteriously 
from  chamber  to  chamber,  assisting,  unsus- 
pected, at  conversations  where  his  own 
fortunes  were  sometimes  the  principal  topic. 
Here  Madame  Du  Deffand  lived  twenty- 
seven  years — until  her  death,  October  24, 
1 780.  For  ten  years  J ulie  de  Lespinasse  was 
her  companion,  and  Madame  de  Genlis  was 
also  an  occupant  of  the  convent  at  this  time. 
Madame  Du  Deffand  had  the  apartment  for- 
merly belonging  to  Madame  de  Montespan, 
whose  arms  may  still  be  seen  above  the 
mantelpiece.  She  gave  to  its  furnishing 
much  thought  and  taste,  and  the  fame  of 
her  Monday  night  suppers,  where  the  best 
conversation  in  Paris  was  to  be  found,  ex- 
tended across  the  channel.  From  this  time 
her  salon  was  the  meeting  place  for  all 
celebrities,  French  or  foreign.    But  she  would 


64  The  Salon 

have  nothing  to  do  with  politics  any  more 
than  with  philosophy  though  all  parties 
and  varied  principles  were  represented  by 
their  most  able  advocates  ;  neither  should 
her  salon  be  termed  literary,  for  the  fash- 
ionable and  frivolous  were  made  as  wel- 
come as  the  learned,  if  only  they  had  wit 
and  manners. 

The  literary  ability  of  the  women  of  the 
salons  cannot  be  measured  by  their  writings. 
Authorship  for  women  was  not  fashionable, 
and  they  were  careful  to  disclaim  any  pre- 
tension to  it.  Their  metier — and  Madame 
Du  Deffand  was  supreme  in  this — was  to 
rule.  They,  themselves,  posed  as  ignorant, 
and  any  compositions  which  have  come 
down  to  us  were  written  only  for  private 
perusal;  sparkling  bon-mots,  glancing  epi- 
grams, witty  verses,  meant  social  success 
and  distinction.  It  was  an  airy,  daring  flight 
of  light  comedy  that  the  age  exacted. 

in 
Madame  Du  Deffand  was  now  fifty  years 


Madame  Du  Deffand  65 

old,  and  her  life  on  entering  the  convent 
was  supposed  to  be  reformed,  though  she 
said  she  would  not  do  rouge  and  the 
President  the  honour  of  giving  them  up. 
Her  existing  friendships,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  d'  Alembert,  were  thenceforward 
to  be  unbroken.  Every  day,  beside  H£- 
nault,  she  saw  Pont  de  Veyle,  her  loyal 
friend  from  childhood,  a  nephew  of  the 
talented,  conspiring  Madame  de  Tencin,  a 
friend  also  of  Maurepas,  whose  disgrace  he 
shared.  A  writer  of  clever  comedies,  sto- 
ries, and  verses,  but  silent,  morose,  un- 
pleasing,  it  was,  according  to  Walpole,  the 
art  of  parody,  which  he  possessed  to  an 
extraordinary  degree,  that  made  Pont  de 
Veyle  popular  and  that  changed  his  whole 
appearance  when  he  astonished  the  com- 
pany by  his  exhibitions  of  wit  and  satire. 
There  was  Formont,  too,  who,  until  Vol- 
taire's intimacy  with  Madame  Du  Chatelet 
began,  was  his  closest  friend ;  this  new 
phase  in  Voltaire's  life  also  caused  a  break 
in  his  correspondence  with  Madame  Du 
Deffand  and   when,    fourteen   years  later, 


66  The  Salon 

at  Madame  Du  Chatelet's  death,  it  began 
anew,  the  former  tone  of  intimacy  was 
lost. 

In  the  meantime  Formont  had  taken  a 
foremost  place  with  Madame  Du  Deffand, 
and  at  his  death,  in  1758,  she  begged  Vol- 
taire to  perpetuate  the  memory  of  his  old 
friend  in  writing ;  but  he  received  the  news 
somewhat  coldly  and  her  hope  of  immor- 
tality for  Formont's  name  in  Voltaire's  pages 
was  disappointed.  A  devoted  friend,  a 
charming  companion,  clever,  without  ped- 
antry, above  conceit,  Formont  was  one  of 
the  most  beloved  and  agreeable  in  this  com- 
pany where  the  gentler  virtues  must  some- 
times have  been  missed.  He  had  his  proto- 
types among  Englishmen  in  Storer,  Hare, 
and  Crawford,  who  were  of  the  same  pe- 
riod ;  amiable,  lovable,  and  with  numberless 
friends  each  wasted  much  of  life  on  play 
and  in  fashionable  follies ;  clever  and  able, 
each  led  a  somewhat  useless  existence, 
leaving  behind  him  but  little  trace  of  the 
capacity  and  brilliant  gifts  which  he  pos- 
sessed.    The  Chevalier  d'Aydie,  the  lover 


VOLTAIRE. 
After  the  Drawing  at  Femey. 


Madame  Du  Deffand  67 

of  Mademoiselle  ATsse 1  was  also  one  of  the 
constant  frequenters  of  Madame  Du  Def- 
fand's  salon  when  he  was  in  Paris,  and  it 
was  here  that  he  met  the  beautiful  Circas- 
sian who  remains  a  touching  and  romantic 
figure  in  an  epoch  when  it  was  a  misfortune 
to  possess  deep  feeling.  Monsieur  de  Fer- 
riol,  the  French  Minister  to  Constantinople 
in  the  early  part  of  the  century,  brought  a 
beautiful  child  who  had  been  exposed  for 
sale  in  the  slave  market,  to  Paris,  and  had 
her  educated  as  his  daughter.  The  attempt 
to  reconcile  the  ideals  of  an  elevated  nature 
with  the  corrupt  society  of  the  period  was 
beyond  her  strength  and  she  died  early,  the 
victim  of  an  unhappy  passion. 

It  is  odd  that,  of  the  three  men  who 
directed  French  ideas  to  reform,  and  finally 
inflamed  to  revolution,  two  should  be  life- 
long friends  and  correspondents  of  Madame 
Du  Deffand,  to  whom  such  opinions  were 
so  unsympathetic.  Of  Rousseau,  her  opin- 
ion was  unfavourable  to  the  point  of  dislike 

'Mademoiselle  Aisse,  1695-1733,  left  an  interesting  correspond- 
ence. 


68  The  Salon 

and    hostility,   though  one  would   gather 
from  Walpole  that  she  did  not  notice  him  : 

She  never  interested  herself  about  Rousseau  nor 
admired  him.  Her  understanding  is  too  just  not  to 
be  disgusted  with  his  paradoxes  and  affectations;  and 
his  eloquence  could  not  captivate  her,  for  she  hates 
'eloquence.  She  asked  no  style  but  Voltaire's,  and 
has  an  aversion  to  all  moral  philosophers.  She  has 
scarce  mentioned  Rousseau  living  or  dead  ;  and 
d'Alembert  was  egregiously  mistaken  in  thinking  she 
wrote  my  letter  to  him  ;  Rousseau  would  have  been 
still  more  offended  had  he  known  how  little  she  ever 
thought  on  him.  She  was  born  and  had  lived  in  the 
age  of  true  taste  and  had  allowed  no  one  but  Voltaire 
to  belong  to  it.  She  holds  that  all  the  rest  have  cor- 
rupted their  taste  and  language.  La  Fontaine  is  her 
idol  ;  that  is,  simplicity  is.1 

For  Rousseau  she  had  the  contempt 
and  scorn  which  she  felt  for  the  philoso- 
phers in  general  and  for  their  work,  whose 
destructive  tendency  she  was  one  of  the 
few  to  understand.  She  seemed,  at  times, 
indeed,  to  see  into  the  future,  often  in 
her  letters  uneasily  alluding  to  the  com- 
mon people,  already  reading  in  their  discon- 
tent something  to  be  feared  although,  more 
happy  than   her  friend,   the   Duchesse  de 

1  Letters  of  Horace  IValpole,  ed.  Toynbee,  vol.  x.,  p.  289. 


Madame  Du  Deffand  69 

Choiseul,  she  did  not  witness  the  final 
reckoning.  Montesquieu,  like  Voltaire, found 
inspiration  in  her  society,  and  so  she  con- 
tributed all  unwittingly  to  his  greatest  work, 
which  she  is  said  to  have  noticed  only  by 
the  famous  bon-mot  "qu'il  n'y  avait  dans 
V Esprit  des  Lois  de  Montesquieu  que  de 
l'esprit  sur  les  lois."  When,  however,  the 
author  was  criticised  as  having  made  ego- 
tism the  foundation  of  all  actions  and  the 
lever  which  moved  society  she  cynically  re- 
marked "  Good,  he  has  only  revealed  every 
one's  secret."  Their  correspondence  is  full 
of  wit  and  humour  and  of  eighteenth-cen- 
tury vivacity  and  freedom  of  expression, 
bringing  before  one  the  aerial,  graceful,  arti- 
ficial posturing  of  Fragonard,  the  quaint, 
ugly,  delightful  figures  of  Watteau. 

When  she  writes  that  she  is  blind  he  thus 
seeks  to  console  her :  "Do  you  not  see  that 
we  were  formerly,  you  and  I,  little  rebel 
spirits  who  were  condemned  to  the  shades  ? 
It  ought  to  console  us  that  those  who  see 
clearly  do  not  on  that  account  give  out 
light."    Voltaire,  who  had  made  verses  be- 


70  The  Salon 

fore  to  her  beaux  yeux,  with  characteristic 
vanity  seized  the  opportunity  to  display  his 
skill  in  turning  rhymes,  rather  than  to  express 
any  real  emotion  : 

"Oui,  je  perds  les  deux  yeux;  vous  les  avez  perdus 

O  sage  Du  Deffand.     Est-ce  une  grande  perte  ? 
Du  moins  nous  ne  reverrons  plus 
Les  sots  dont  la  terre  est  couverte. 

Et  puis  tout  est  aveugle  en  cet  humain  sejour; 

On  ne  va  qu'a  tatons  sur  la  terre  et  sur  l'onde; 

On  a  les  yeux  bouches  a  la  ville,  a  la  cour; 
Plutos,  la  Fortune  et  l'Amour 

Sont  trois  aveugle-nes  qui  gouvernent  le  monde." 

The  death,  in  1750,  of  the  Marquis  Du 
Deffand,  whom  his  wife  probably  had  not 
seen  since  the  ineffectual  attempt  at  recon- 
ciliation of  which  I  have  already  spoken,  she 
seemed,  nevertheless  to  feel.  The  terror  of 
oncoming  blindness  threatened  to  make  ex- 
istence a  blank.  She  could  not  bear  solitude, 
yet  society  for  the  moment  was  insupport- 
able, and  to  the  surprise  and  dismay  of  her 
friends  she  announced  her  determination  to 
leave  Paris  for  ever.  But  the  tranquillity 
and  repose  which  she  sought  were  not  to 
be  found  either  at  the  chateau  de  Champrond 


Madame  Du  Defifand  71 

with  her  brother,  or  at  Lyons,  where  she 
had  been  attracted  by  her  friendship  for  the 
Cardinal  de  Tencin.  One  thing  was  impos- 
sible for  this  remarkable  woman — she  could 
not  become  a  provincial,  and  she  made 
known  her  intention  of  returning  to  Paris 
in  the  following  year. 

It  was  at  the  chateau  de  Champrond  that 
there  commenced  a  famous  connexion  which 
filled  a  large  place  for  many  years  in  Madame 
Du  Deffand's  life  ;  for  it  was  here  she  met 
Julie  de  Lespinasse,1  whose  position  in  the 
household  as  an  unrecognised  relative,  de- 
pendent and  solitary,  was  far  from  happy. 
Madame  Du  Deffand  soon  perceived  this 
and,  captivated  by  her  self-reliant  character 
and  her  accomplishments,  presently  formed 
the  idea  of  attaching  the  clever  and  agreeable 
young  woman  to  herself  as  a  resource  in 
failing  sight.  The  following  letter  written 
to  her  while  negotiations  with  the  family 
were  proceeding  would,  ten  years  later,  have 
read  as  if  Madame  Du  Deffand  had  received 

1  Julie  de  Lespinasse  was  the  natural  daughter  of  Madame  Du 
Deffand's  brother,  the  Comte  de  Vichy  and  the  Comtesse  d'Albon. 


72  The  Salon 

some  warning  of  the  blow  to  her  pride  and 
affection  which  was  to  fall  upon  her  through 
this  engaging  girl  in  the  division  of  her  salon 
and  in  the  loss  of  d'Alembert,  her  most 
cherished  friend : 

If  you  knew  me  well,  you  would  have  no  anxiety 
over  the  way  in  which  I  shall  treat  your  self-esteem; 
the  least  artifice  and  the  least  little  art  in  your  conduct 
would  be  insupportable  to  me.  I  am  naturally  dis- 
trustful and  all  those  in  whom  I  discern  artfulness  be- 
come suspicious  to  me  to  the  point  of  being  no  longer 
able  to  have  any  confidence  in  them.  I  have  two 
friends,  Formont  and  d'Alembert.  I  love  them  pas- 
sionately, not  so  much  for  their  personal  attractiveness 
and  for  their  friendship  for  me  as  for  their  extreme 
truthfulness.  You  must  then  resolve  to  live  with  me 
in  the  greatest  frankness  and  sincerity,  never  to  employ 
either  insinuation  or  exaggeration;  in  a  word,  never  to 
lose  one  of  the  greatest  attractions  of  youth,  which  is 
candour.  You  have  a  good  deal  of  intelligence,  you 
have  gaiety,  you  are  capable  of  sentiment;  with  all 
these  qualities  you  will  be  charming  as  long  as  you 
remain  without  pretension  and  without  deceit.1 

Julie  thankfully  accepted  Madame  Du 
Deffand's  proposal,  and  promised  to  abide 

1  Correspondance  complete  de  Madame  Du  Dcffand,  ed.  de  M.  de 
Lescure,  Paris,  1865,  t.  i.,  p.  195. 


Madame  Du  Deffand  73 

by  her  conditions.  The  history  of  their 
connexion  for  ten  years  and  its  sudden 
end,  the  defection  of  d'Alembert  and  the 
rival  salon  set  up  by  the  younger  woman, 
is  an  oft-told  tale.  Madame  Du  Deffand 
was  fifty-seven,  Julie  de  Lespinasse  twen- 
ty-two, when  their  lives  approached  so 
closely.  Afflicted  with  sleeplessness,  Ma- 
dame Du  Deffand  only  arose  in  time  to 
receive  at  six.  Her  intelligent  companion, 
thus  left  her  freedom,  was  in  readiness 
earlier,  and  there  and  then  made  the  havoc 
among  the  guests  which  had  such  wide  re- 
sults and  which  was  the  beginning  of  her 
own  salon.  It  was  d'Alembert,  the  "petit 
ami,"  whose  advent  and  progress  in  the 
social  and  literary  world  Madame  Du  Deffand 
had  so  zealously  assisted  and  jealously 
guarded,  who  helped  Julie  in  this  double 
role,  and  who  led  the  choicest  spirits  among 
the  Marquise's  following  to  her  rival  ;  Tur- 
got,  Condorcet,  and  Marmontel  were  among 
the  number  who  were  wont  to  assemble  in 
Julie's  own  apartment.  Naturally  as  soon 
as  Madame  Du  Deffand  became  aware  of 


74  The  Salon 

this  breach  of  faith  all  harmony  was  at  an 
end  between  the  two  women.  The  philo- 
sophical coterie  which  Julie  de  Lespinasse 
then  joined  wrote  much  on  this  personal 
and  rather  trivial  subject,  and  generally  to 
the  discredit  of  Madame  Du  Deffand,  whom 
they  accused  of  harshness  and  jealousy, 
but,  as  they  never  forgave  her  for  not  unit- 
ing with  them,  their  justice  is  to  be  sus- 
pected. As  for  Julie,  she  was  charged  with 
inconstancy,  strong  passions,  and  deceit. 
She  had  the  good  taste,  however,  to  allude 
to  Madame  Du  Deffand,  after  their  estrange- 
ment in  terms  of  respect  and  gratitude. 

This  experience  embittered  the  remainder 
of  Madame  Du  Deffand's  life,  for  with  the 
exception  of  Walpole,  she  never  wholly 
trusted  any  one  again.  Old  and  blind,  she 
who  gave  and  demanded  exclusive  affection 
now  perceived  her  oldest  friends  divide  their 
allegiance  between  her  and  the  woman  she 
had  driven  from  her,  and  herself  forsaken 
quite  by  d'Alembert,  who  had  been  a 
daily  visitor  for  twenty  years.  She  strug- 
gled   hard  to   retain   him.     How  changed 


Madame  Du  Deffand  75 

the  proud-spirited  Marquise!  Humble, 
patient,  and  long  suffering  under  his  rude 
rebuffs,  she  yet  endeavoured  to  preserve 
some  part  of  their  old  friendship. 

To  a  letter  from  Germany  in  which  he 
wrote  that  he  would  not  trouble  her  for 
an  answer  but  that  he  hoped  to  receive 
news  of  her  through  Julie — with  whom  he 
was  in  constant  communication — she  re- 
plied at  once: 

No  !  No  !  Monsieur,  no  one  shall  take  my  place 
to  give  you  news  of  me  and  still  less  to  reply  to  the 
the  most  charming  letter  which  I  have  received  from 
you.  In  reading  it,  I  thought  I  was  twenty  years 
younger,  than  I  was  at  Sainte-Chapelle,  that  you  were 
as  much  pleased  with  me  as  I  was  with  you.  Finally 
this  letter  recalled  the  golden  age  of  our  friendship  ; 
it  reawakened  my  tenderness  ;  it  made  me  happy. 
Let  us  start  from  there,  believe  me,  and  let  us  love 
one  another  as  much  as  we  have  done.  I  believe 
that  we  could  not  do  better  ;  believe  it  also  if  you 
are  able.  .  .  .  Adieu  my  dear  d'  Alembert  ;  I  am  and 
shall  always  be  the  same  to  you.  Do  not  doubt  it, 
and  love  me  in  your  turn.1 

This  touching  appeal  brought  no  response. 
It  was  the  last  letter  she  ever  wrote  to  him. 

1  Julie  dc  Lcspinassc,par]e  Marquise  de  Scgur.  Paris:  Calmann 
1  (Jvy.  n.  i.i  i . 


76  The  Salon 

But  his  was  the  sole  instance  of  the  entire 
loss  of  an  old  friend.  Several  of  the  habit- 
ues, however,  without  giving  up  their  places 
in  Madame  Du  Deffand's  circle,  were  also 
frequenters  of  the  salon  of  her  protegee  and 
rival.  It  was  even  rumoured  that  President 
Henault  himself  proposed  marriage  to  Julie. 
Madame  Du  Deffand  never  forgave  her  and 
seldom  spoke  her  name.  Her  only  com- 
ment to  Walpole  in  repeating  the  news  of 
her  death,  in  1776,  was :  "She  should  have 
died  sixteen  years  earlier,  I  should  not  have 
lost  d'Alembert."  "If  she  is  in  Paradise," 
she  wrote  to  another  friend,  "the  Holy 
Virgin  had  better  take  care,  for  she  may  rob 
her  of  the  affection  of  the  Eternal  Father." 

But  the  vacant  place  in  her  heart  was — 
strangely  enough — to  be  taken  by  an  Eng- 
lishman. Julie  de  Lespinasse  opened  her 
salon  in  1764  ;  the  next  year  Horace  Wal- 
pole, visiting  the  Continent,  was  introduced 
to  Madame  Du  Deffand,  for  no  foreigner  of 
distinction  now  passed  through  Paris  with- 
out, if  he  wished  to  know  its  society,  seek- 
ing admission  there.      Her  appearance   at 


Madame  Du  Deffand  77 

this  time  of  her  life  was  singularly  attract- 
ive. She  was  quite  blind,  but  there  was 
nothing  disfiguring  or  distressing  to  an  ob- 
server in  this  affliction ;  her  eyes  were 
closed,  but  too  proud  to  wish  to  be  pitied 
she  endeavoured  to  conceal  her  loss  of  sight 
as  far  as  possible  ;  her  features  retained  their 
regularity  and  delicacy,  and  her  complexion 
its  freshness.  The  quaint  simplicity  of  her 
dress,  which  never  varied,  added  to  the 
charm  which  seemed  to  envelop  her.  Her 
face  was  framed  within  frills  of  lace,  and  a 
knot  of  ribbon  beneath  the  chin  fastened  a 
black  velvet  hood  ;  she  wore  a  jacket,  also 
of  black  velvet,  which  opened  over  a  white 
dress  trimmed  with  deep  ruffles  of  lace.  In 
her  letters  she  complains  of  her  serious 
and  melancholy  disposition,  but  those  who 
knew  her,  on  the  contrary,  have  left  an  im- 
pression of  her  liveliness  and  gaiety,  and 
they  tell  us  that,  above  all,  she  fascinated 
by  her  conversation,  and  never  more  so 
than  at  this  time  of  her  life  when  she  had 
long  left  youth  behind,  and  when  before 
her  was  the  prospect  of  an  infirm  and  love- 


73  The  Salon 

less  old  age.  It  was  with  this  celebrated 
woman,  now  sixty-eight  years  old,  whose 
life  had  been  so  full,  so  vivid,  and  so  va- 
ried, that  Walpole,  who  was  twenty  years 
younger,  began  an  intimacy  which  has 
become  historical,  and  has  linked  together 
forever  two  personalities  differing  both  in 
nationality  and  character.  Walpole  wrote 
cynically  on  friendship,  but  he  did  not  put 
his  superficial  theories  into  practice  ;  while 
Madame  Du  Deffand  argued  that  it  were 
better  to  be  dead  than  not  to  love  someone, 
he  maintained  that  it  were  better  to  be  dead 
than  to  love  any  one  ;  the  old  dispute  of  pain 
or  gain,  sung  by  Oriental,  by  latter-day 
poets,  was  gone  over  again  between  them. 
Though  Walpole  exacted  a  promise  that 
his  letters  should  be  destroyed,  he  carefully 
hoarded  those  he  received  from  her  and  in 
them  we  find  more  incomparable  portraits 
and  hear  many  keen  reflections  on  the  peo- 
ple and  events  of  the  period.  Her  corre- 
spondence, which  extended  over  a  period 
of  forty-one  years,  ends  two  days  before 
her  death  with  a  letter  to  him  on  whom 


Madame  Du  Deffand  79 

her  thoughts  were  fixed,  and  to  whom  had 
been  given  the  tenderest  feelings  of  her 
heart.  "\  have  not  the  strength  to  be 
frightened,"  she  wrote,  in  reference  to  her 
state,  "and  never  expecting  to  see  you 
again,  I  have  nothing  to  regret."1 

In  spite  of  her  pessimistic  views  concerning 
the  regard  in  which  she  was  held  by  her 
friends,  Madame  Du  Deffand  was  surrounded 
by  them  to  the  last  moment  of  her  life.  The 
Duchesse  de  Choiseul  and  the  Marechales  de 
Luxembourg  and  de  Mirepoix  hardly  left  her 
bedside  in  her  last  illness.  Still  she  could 
not  believe  that  their  devotion  was  inspired 
by  affection  and,  surprising  Wiart,  her  faith- 
ful secretary,  in  tears,  she  whispered,  "Do 
you  love  me  then?"  They  were  her  last 
words. 

IV 

The  Parisian  society  of  the  eighteenth 
century  is  little  understood.  There  were 
in  it  so  many  different  shades  :  the  Me- 
moires    of   Madame    d'Epinay    show    but 

1  Correspondance  complete  de  Madame  Du  Deffand,  ed.  de  M.  de 
Sainte-Aulaire,  t.  i.,  p.  exxxii. 


80  The  Salon 

one  phase,  as  do  those  of  other  letter- 
writers;  the  salon  of  Madame  Geoffrin  was 
another  world,  for  in  spite  of  her  royal 
intimacies  she  remained  to  the  end  of  her 
days  a  bourgeoise,  and  her  salon  distinctly 
indicated  the  influence  of  her  ordinary  ori- 
gin; she  never  had  the  entree  to  that  select 
society  which  exemplified  the  ancient  no- 
blesse, and  which  still  held  to  the  old  tra- 
ditions and  pretended  to  an  elegance 
above  academical,  clerical,  philosophical, 
or  court  coteries.  At  Madame  Geoffrin's 
death,  the  imposing  ceremonies,  the  fu- 
neral orations,  drew  from  Madame  Du  Defif- 
and  the  caustic  criticism  "Voila  bien  du 
bruit  pour  une  omelette  au  lard."1  It  is  prob- 
able, also,  that  she  had  not  forgotten  the 
sting  of  Madame  Geoffrin's  unprecedented 
act  of  hospitality  and  homage  towards 
Julie  de  Lespinasse  when,  on  her  depart- 
ure from  Saint-Joseph,  she  was  asked,  the 
only  woman,  to  Madame  Geoffrin's  favoured 
Wednesdays,  the  day  set  apart  for  men  of 

1  Cor  respond an  ce  complete  de  Madame  Du  Demand,  ed.  de  M.  de 
Sainte-Aulaire  t.  i ,  p.  xcii. 


Madame  Du  Deffand  81 

letters,  and  more  exclusive,  if  less  lively, 
than  the  Mondays. 

The  salon  of  Madame  Du  Deffand  was 
not  easy  of  access  as  has  been  seen  in  the 
case  of  Rousseau.  Genius  alone  was  not  a 
passport  to  her  favour.  It  was  imperative 
that  her  standard  be  reached  in  every  par- 
ticular, and  elegant  manners,  gaiety,  and 
good  sense  were  necessary  qualifications. 
Of  Marmontel  she  said :  ' '  How  much  trouble 
he  takes,  how  he  exerts  himself  to  be  witty. 
He  is  only  a  vagabond  clothed  in  rags!"1 
Neither  was  she  complimentary  to  Diderot, 
who  never  crossed  the  threshold  but  once. 
"Nous  n'avons  pas  d'atomes  crochus,"1  she 
said.  Grimm  she  never  would  receive  at  all. 
The  Marechales  de  Luxembourg  and  Mire- 
poix,  the  Duchesse  de  la  Valliere,  the  Due 
and  Duchesse  de  Choiseul,  the  Prince  and 
Princesse  de  Beauvau,  the  Boufflers, — 
all  the  most  considered  in  society,  gath- 
ered about  her  chair,  the  famous  ton- 
neau  of  which  we  hear  frequent  mention 

1  Correspondance  compute  de  Madame  Du  Deffand,   ed.  de   M.  de 
Sainte-Aulaire  t.  iv  p.  xcii. 

6 


82  The  Salon 

in  her  letters.  The  latest  ideas  were  dis- 
cussed ;  statesmen  and  a  few  favoured  philo- 
sophers, poets,  pretty  and  clever  women, 
and  men  of  the  world  who  were  agreeable 
and  cultivated  only,  displayed  their  wit, 
charm,  or  beauty,  and  proved  their  right  to 
be  there;  she  never  allowed  the  conversation 
to  become  either  dull  or  vapid;  it  was  intel- 
lectual, but  not  heavy,  and  the  agitating 
questions  discussed  by  the  encyclopedists 
were  brought  up  only  as  subjects  of  ridicule. 
Sometimes,  tired  of  French  vivacity,  she 
would  turn  to  Madame  Necker,  the  fair,  blue- 
eyed  provincial  Swiss,  and  would  spend  an 
evening  with  her  at  Saint-Ouen. 

The  salon  of  the  eighteenth  century,  his- 
torical though  it  has  become,  is,  to  the  for- 
eign mind,  apt  to  convey  the  idea  of  crowded 
receptions  and  grand  apartments.  The  word 
seems  to  eliminate  the  life,  and  causes  us 
to  forget  that  we  must  understand  by  it  the 
complete  environment  of  some  celebrated 
and  remarkable  persons — the  reception  of 
the  savant  and  the  politician,  the  confidences 
of  the  dearest  friends.  As  we  know,  Madame 


Madame  Du  Deffand  83 

Du  Deffand  received  her  guests  in  a  small 
parlour,  and  in  this  unpretentious  interior  the 
social  salon,  the  highest  form  of  agreeable 
and  intellectual  society  that  the  world  has 
ever  seen,  attained  its  most  complete  devel- 
opment. I  have  said  that,  of  Madame  Du 
Deffand's  contemporaries,  Madame  Geoffrin 
belonged  to  a  less  exclusive  society,  of  which 
the  philosophers  were  the  leading  spirits  ; 
Julie  de  Lespinasse  and  Madame  d'  Epinay 
were  also  supporters  of  the  philosophical 
party  to  which,  in  spite  of  her  intimate 
friendships  with  their  chiefs,  Madame  du 
Deffand  was  distinctly  inimical;  of  this 
unique  group  of  women,  Madame  d' Epi- 
nay alone  survived  Madame  Du  Deffand, 
whose  salon  was  a  survival  more  nearly  re- 
sembling the  seventeenth-  than  the  eigh- 
teenth-century product.  The  influence  of 
the  philosophical  salons,  the  freedom  with 
which  political  and  philosophical  topics 
were  generally  argued,  assisted  materially 
in  the  overthrow  of  the  ancient  society  of 
which  she  was  a  perfect  and  a  final  ex- 
ample and  the  burning  fever  of  politics,  to 


84  The  Salon 

culminate  a  few  years  later  in  revolution, 
soon  overthrew  completely  the  reign  of  fash- 
ion, of  taste,  of  caste,  of  theories. 

v 
It  was  not  easy  for  an  Englishman  to  gain 
a  reputation  for  esprit  among  the  quickest 
intellects  of  France,  but  it  was  in  this  ex- 
clusive coterie  that  the  figure  of  Horace 
Walpole  suddenly  emerged.  He  was  well 
received  at  Court  and  was  shown  marked 
attention  by  the  Queen,  whose  presence  he 
left  with  an  apt  quotation  from  his  favourite 
Madame  de  Sevigne :  La  reine  est  le  plus 
grand  rot  du  monde.  He  was  made  wel- 
come everywhere,  for  he  became  the  fashion ; 
his  amusing  conversation,  which  his  bad 
French  only  accentuated,  and  his  manner  of 
jesting — for  the  letter  to  Rousseau,  pretend- 
ing to  come  from  Frederic  of  Prussia,  ill- 
natured  and  unkind  though  it  seemed  to 
the  friends  of  the  susceptible  and  sensitive 
philosopher — set  all  Paris  laughing  and  made 
him  the  most  talked-of  man  about  town. 
Though  he  professed  to  be  satiated  with  so- 
ciety, he  prolonged  his  stay  in  Paris  and 


Madame  Du  Deffand  85 

confessed  to  some  concern  at  leaving.  "  I 
almost  regret  having  come  here,"  he  wrote 
home,  "  I  love  the  manner  of  living  and  have 
become  attached  to  so  many  persons  as  to 
make  me  feel  more  regret  in  leaving  than  I 
would  have  believed." 

Whether  we  regard  his  friendship  with 
Madame  Du  Deffand  as  an  incident  in  her 
life  or  as  a  phase  in  the  social  life  of  France 
and  England  in  the  eighteenth  century  how 
noteworthy  it  is,  illustrating  as  it  does  the 
singular  attraction  of  each  of  these  friends. 
Glance  back  over  Madame  Du  Deffand's 
life,  her  youth,  her  marriage,  her  attach- 
ments, her  experiences,  and  at  last  her 
affection  centred  on  Walpole,  a  foreigner, 
imitative  only  of  the  French  spirit.  She  had 
passed  the  age  of  gallantry,  a  period  which 
was  as  fixed  in  public  opinion  before  the 
Revolution  as  the  coming  and  going  of  day 
and  night ;  she  could,  therefore,  in  her  opin- 
ion— which  therein  differed  from  Walpole's 
— give  herself  freely  to  the  fond  attachment, 
the  mental  exhilaration,  which  his  original 
personality  and  mind  inspired  in  her.     Wal- 


86  The  Salon 

pole  remained  in  Paris  seven  months,  and 
on  the  day  of  his  return  began  their  corre- 
spondence, which  continued  fourteen  years, 
— to  the  end  of  her  life.  At  first  he  went  to 
see  her  out  of  curiosity;  then,  always  inter- 
ested in  the  private  life  of  great  personages, 
to  hear  about  the  Regent  and  the  gay  so- 
ciety of  her  youth  that  laughed,  danced,  and 
coquetted  at  the  Palais-Royal  and  Saint- 
Cloud.  From  these  first  interviews  he  went 
away  saying — rather  rudely  and  untruth- 
fully, if  he  himself  is  to  be  believed — that 
he  had  to  listen  to  a  great  deal  of  dull  talk 
on  what  was  going  on  at  the  time  in  order 
to  extract  from  her  some  details  of  the  life 
of  the  Regent.  But  a  few  weeks  disclosed  a 
marked  change  in  his  sentiments,  and  created 
a  memorable  friendship.  It  was  very  human, 
originating  in  exchanges  of  congenial  wit 
and  shrewdness  ;  it  certainly  on  his  part, 
too,  rose  to  affection.  "  My  dear  old  friend" 
were  the  words  in  which  he  constantly 
spoke  of  her  after  her  death  ;  simple  enough 
in  themselves,  their  very  spontaneity  and 
unaffectedness  in  the  middle  of  phrases  be- 


Madame  Du  Deffand  87 

came  unmistakable  marks  of  their  truth,  and 
revealed  some  depth  of  feeling.  So  far  as 
his  sensitiveness  to  opinion  would  permit — 
for  her  advanced  years,  which  appeared  to 
her  a  safeguard  against  comment,  to  him 
seemed  to  furnish  a  handle  for  ridicule,  the 
fear  of  which  was  always  uppermost  in  his 
mind — his  deference  and  tenderness  toward 
her  were  unfailing.  Walpole  visited  Paris  at 
different  periods,  and  from  their  first  meeting 
he  found  a  place  in  the  still  passionate  heart 
hitherto  never  really  touched.  She  had  Wiart, 
her  faithful  secretary,  taught  English  that  Wal- 
pole might  be  spared  the  trouble  of  writing  in 
a  foreign  tongue;  when  he  was  ill  she  begged 
him  to  send  a  daily  bulletin  of  his  health. 

Attached  though  he  undoubtedly  was  to 
her,  Walpole,  as  has  been  said, was  a  little 
ashamed  of  the  devotion  he  inspired,  and 
often  unreasonably  and  unkindly  reproved 
her  for  what  he  considered  its  too  open 
and  frequent  expression.  What  pathetic 
and  touching  words,  what  an  unusual  ex- 
hibition of  feeling,  from  a  woman  of  seven- 
ty are  here  disclosed! 


88  The  Salon 

I  thought  one  day  that  I  was  a  garden  of  which  you 
were  the  gardener;  that  seeing  winter  arrive,  you  up- 
rooted all  the  flowers  which  you  did  not  judge  to  be- 
long to  the  season,  although  there  were  still  some 
which  were  not  entirely  faded,  like  little  violets,  little 
marguerites,  .  .  .  and  that  you  had  left  but  one  cer- 
tain flower  which  has  neither  odour  nor  colour,  which 
one  calls  the  immortelle,  because  it  never  fades.  .  .  . 
It  is  the  emblem  of  my  soul  in  which  is  a  great  priva- 
tion of  thought  but  where  a  great  constancy,  esteem, 
and  attachment  remains.1 

But,  devoted  though  she  was  to  him,  Ma- 
dame Du  Deffand  was  never  long  deceived  in 
any  one,  and  her  keen  instincts  and  sound 
judgment  pierced  through  the  egotism  which 
others  saw,  to  find  Walpole's  true  weakness 
in  that  fear  of  ridicule  from  which  she  her- 
self was  to  suffer  continually.  Walpole's 
character  has  been  described  over  and  over 
again,  but  his  besetting  sin  has  never  been 
more  cleverly  handled  than  in  her  portrait 
of  him  : 

You  have  a  weakness  which  is  unpardonable,  you 
sacrifice  your  feelings  to  it,  your  conduct  is  guided  by 
it;  it  is  the  fear  of  ridicule.  It  makes  you  dependent 
on  the  opinion  of  fools,  and  your  friends  are  not  safe 
from  the  impressions  which  fools  may  wish  to  give 

1  Correspondance  de  Madame  Du  Deffand,  ed.  de  M.  de  Sainte- 
Aulaire,  t.  i.,  p.  ci. 


Madame  Du  Deffand  89 

you  against  them.  Your  mind  is  easily  disturbed.  It 
is  a  drawback  of  which  you  are  aware  and  which  you 
may  remedy  by  the  firmness  with  which  you  follow 
your  resolutions.1 

There  are  many  proofs  that  Walpole's  at- 
tachment to  Madame  Du  Deffand  was  genu- 
ine, and  fragments  of  letters  show  him  to 
possess  not  only  the  keen  perception  which 
has  been  universally  accorded  him,  but  that 
for  which  he  has  less  often  been  given  credit 
— a  good  heart.  It  may  be  that  he  was 
drawn  at  first  toward  Madame  Du  Deffand 
by  the  intellectual  resemblance  she  bore  to 
Madame  de  Sevigne: 

I  have  heard  her  dispute  with  all  sorts  of  people, 
on  all  sorts  of  subjects,  and  never  knew  her  in  the 
wrong.  She  humbles  the  learned,  sets  right  their 
disciples,  and  finds  conversation  for  everybody.  Af- 
fectionate as  Madame  de  Sevigne,  she  has  none  of  her 
prejudices,  but  a  more  universal  taste;  and  with  the 
most  delicate  frame,  her  spirits  hurry  her  through  a  life 
of  fatigue  that  would  kill  me  were  I  to  continue  here.3 

It  has  been  claimed  for  Walpole  himself 
that  his  letters  compare  with  those  of  Ma- 

1    Correspondance  de  Madame  Du  Deffand,  ed.  tie  M.  de  Sainte- 
Aulaire,  t.  i.,  p.  xcix. 

■  Letters  of  Horace  IValpole,  ed.  Toynbee,  vol.  vii.,  p.  315. 


90  The  Salon 

dame  de  Sevigne,  but  his  crowd  of  notes, 
the  anecdotes  hoarded  and  rewritten,  prove 
how  far  he  was  from  her  unstudied  sim- 
plicity, though  he  took  her  for  his  model. 
His  letters  are  less  literary  in  form,  less 
elevated  in  tone,  and  they  show  him  to  be 
more  of  a  gossip — it  is  not,  perhaps,  their 
least  claim  to  our  gratitude — than  either  of 
the  women  whose  correspondence  he  held 
so  high.  His  haunting  fear  of  ridicule, 
though  not  heroic,  is  perhaps  not,  after 
all,  unnatural  in  this  connexion — given 
a  supersensitive,  hypercritical  man  of  forty- 
seven  and  a  blind  woman  of  seventy — and 
the  order  for  the  destruction  of  his  letters 
from  a  man  who  was  regarding  them  from 
the  point  of  view  of  literary  material  may  be 
charitably  urged  as  a  matter  of  discretion. 
Madame  Du  Deffand's  correspondence,  al- 
ready famous,  was  valuable,  and  he  knew  it 
would  be  likely  some  day  to  be  published. 
Besides,  towards  the  end  of  the  reign  of 
Louis  XV  all  letters  coming  from  England 
were  opened  in  Paris,  and  were  likely  to  be 
sent  to  Versailles  if  they  contained  the  names 


HORACE  WALPOLE. 
From  a  Painting  by  X.  Hunt 


Madame  Du  Deffand  91 

of  well-known  people  or  anything  amusing 
to  the  Court.  His  precautions,  therefore, 
seemed  to  him  proper  as  a  prudent  measure 
of  self-protection. 

It  is  difficult  for  the  foreigner  to  understand 
the  English  character,  but  Madame  Du  Def- 
fand was  always  quick  to  note  the  underly- 
ing principles  which  govern  action. 

You  English  submit  to  no  rule,  to  no  method  [she 
wrote].  You  would  have  all  the  intelligence  that  you 
have  even  though  no  one  had  any  before  you.  Ah! 
we  are  not  like  that!  We  have  books  on  the  art  of 
thinking,  of  writing,  of  comparing,  of  judging!  We 
are  the  children  of  art. ' 

The  keen  French  woman  had  seized  upon 
the  true  character  of  the  English  mind, 
which  seldom  reasons  from  any  general 
proposition;  the  Englishman  says  what 
comes  into  his  head,  often  regardless  of  any 
thought  for  proportion,  grace,  or  ulterior 
fitness,  because  he  belongs  so  largely  to  a 
race  in  which  the  art  instinct  is  not  de- 
veloped. But  this  absence  of  feeling  and 
of  respect  for  art  is  conducive  to  a  candour, 

1  Correspondancc  de  Madame  Du  Dcfjand,  ed.  do  M.  de  Sainte- 

Aulaiie,  t.  i,,  p.  xciv. 


92  The  Salon 

a  freshness,  and  an  individuality  of  thought 
and  action,  which  are  as  foreign  to  the 
other,  and  which  that  other  finds  original 
and  admirable. 

Another  Englishman,  young,  charming, 
and  witty,  had  been  earlier  taken  within 
Madame  Du  Deffand's  intimate  circle.  This 
was  James  Crawford,  of  Renfrewshire,  a 
well-known  figure  in  London  society  who 
was  playfully  called  the  "Fish"  by  his 
English  contemporaries.  It  was  he  who  in- 
troduced Walpole  to  the  convent  of  Saint 
Joseph  and  thus  attached  Madame  Du  Def- 
fand  to  him  by  the  added  tie  of  gratitude. 
Her  acquaintance  with  Hume,  whose  sobri- 
quet of  the  "  paysan  de  la  Danube"  was 
obtained  in  her  salon — and  who,  by  the  way, 
left  a  legacy  to  d'Alembert— was  also  due 
to  Crawford: 

You  hold  me  fast  by  two  strong  chords  [she  wrote 
Crawford,  in  1773],  inclination  and  gratitude.  1  do 
not  need  to  tell  you  on  what  the  inclination  is  founded. 
You  are  not  ignorant  that  you  are  very  amiable,  and 
that  your  small  defects  are  effaced  by  an  infinite 
number  of  excellent  qualities  .  .  .  and  then  just 
now  the  souvenir  of  Mr.  Hume,  without  counting  the 


Madame  Du  Deffand  93 

glory,  gives  me  much  pleasure;  I  am  writing  to  him 
incessantly."  l 

Nevertheless,  Hume  and  his  ideas  were 
outside  her  sympathies,  and  she  did  not  care 
for  his  set — which  included  Julie  de  Les- 
pinasse — in  Paris.  For  Crawford  she  had  a 
deep  and  tender  affection,  and  their  exchange 
of  letters  is  another  valuable  addition  to 
literature.  Like  those  to  Walpole,  they  are 
personal  and  intimate  in  tone,  and  show 
her  passionate  wish  for  exclusive  affection. 
Crawford  might  well  have  been  styled  an 
ennuye,  and  Madame  Du  Deffand  could  and 
did  sympathise  with  this  bent  of  mind: 
"  You  who  have  the  misfortune  as  well  as  I 
to  be  always  bored!"2  she  writes.  Their 
correspondence  was  begun  after  he  had  in- 
troduced Walpole  to  the  convent  of  Saint- 
Joseph,  and  was  continued  by  her  perhaps 
in  the  hope  of  keeping  in  closer  touch  with 
Walpole  as  well  as  by  regard  for  Crawford; 
but  the  melancholy,  which  was  the  found- 

'  Corrcspondancc  complete  dc   Madame  Du  Deffand,  ed.  de 
M.  de  Sainte-Aulaire,  t.  i.,  p.  32. 
-  Ibid.,  i.,  p.  25. 


94  The  Salon 

ation  of  his  character,  attracted  her,  as  did 
the  amiable  qualities  and  quick  wit  which 
made  him  so  well  liked  in  Parisian  society. 

"Little  Crawford  is  a  very  unhappy  be- 
ing," she  wrote  to  Walpole.  "  He  has  bad 
health,  but  his  mind  is  worse.  I  do  not 
know  what  will  become  of  him  ;  nothing 
could  be  like  his  uncertainty  ;  ennui  is  con- 
suming him,  1  pity  him."1 

Belonging  to  a  younger  generation  than 
Walpole,  Crawford  was  one  of  that  fashion- 
able and  clever  group  in  London,  of  whom 
Charles  James  Fox  was  the  leader,  and 
the  Fifth  Earl  of  Carlisle  a  striking  figure, 
the  group  of  young  men  which,  with 
Fitzpatrick,  the  "beau  Richard,"  Anthony 
Storer,  the  "  Bon  Ton,"  and  Hare,  of  many 
friends,  George  Selwyn,  though  of  opposite 
politics  to  some  of  them,  patronised  and 
made  much  of.  These  young  men,  outside 
their  social,  literary,  and  artistic  tastes,  were 
possessed  of  political  ambition;  they  stood 
by  each  other  in  the  elections  and  in  office; 

1  Correspondance  complete  de  Madame  Du  Uefjand,  ed.  de 
M.  de  Sainte-Aulaire,  t.  i.,  p.  cii. 


Madame  Du  Deffand  95 

they  made  verses,  flirted,  set  the  fash- 
ions, and  enjoyed  in  each  other's  society 
the  flashes  of  wit,  epigrammatic  sayings, 
and  bon  mots  which  delighted  their  world. 
Crawford,  as  well  as  Walpole,  has  suffered 
from  the  criticism  of  posterity;  perhaps  his 
character  has  not  been  given  justice.  He 
was  probably  better  appreciated  abroad, 
where  he  spent  the  greater  part  of  his  life, 
than  at  home,  where  he  was  possibly  not  so 
well  understood,  and  where  he  was  accused 
of  insincerity,  affectation,  and  jealousy. 
At  any  rate  he  was  beloved  in  France. 
Dutens  devoted  some  pages  to  him  in  his 
Memoir  es,  in  which  he  is  described  under 
the  name  of  Astaque: 

Astaque  is  the  most  singular  compound  in  nature: 
the  versatility  of  a  mind  full  of  original  and  capricious 
ideas;  his  warm  heart,  his  quick  blood,  his  spleen, 
his  vivacious  spirit,  his  feeble  body,  all  that  forms 
separately  one  individual  which  would  suffice  to  com- 
pose half  a  dozen  distinctly  marked  characters,  and 
which  together  presents  the  most  extraordinary  being 
that  one  could  meet  in  societv.  .  .  .  Astaque  has  an 
elevated  mind;  the  birth  and  wealth  of  those  with 
whom  he  associates  do  not  affect  him  in  the  least;  he 
finds  that  he  has  enough  both  of  one  and  the  other  to 


96  The  Salon 

be  on  a  level  with  any.  Add  that  Astaque  is  good, 
charitable,  humane,  quick-tempered,  and  gentle,  a 
warm  friend,  a  generous  enemy  (if  it  can  be  that  he 
has  enemies);  impatient  by  temperament,  indulgent 
by  reflection,  naif  one  moment  and  in  another  full  of 
sallies  of  wit,  enjoying  little,  often  bored,  making  deli- 
cious projects  to  amuse  himself,  putting  none  into 
execution;  he  has  spoken  of  it,  it  is  enough.1 

The  English  may  be,  in  some  cases,  criti- 
cised for  their  lack  of  hospitality  towards 
the  refugees  hurried  to  their  shores  by  the 
Revolution,  many  of  whom  had  lavished 
hospitality  upon  their  countrymen  in  Paris, 
but  Crawford  cannot  be  charged  with  in- 
gratitude. Letters,  still  extant,  from  Talley- 
rand, the  Comte  de  Verdreuil,  the  Comte  de 
Pomblanc,  and  others,  prove  the  sterling 
character  of  the  regard  which  made  him 
hasten  to  the  assistance  of  those  of  the  old 
coterie  whom  he  met  again  under  such 
trying  circumstances.  His  death  in  Lon- 
don, in  1 8 14,  again  called  forth  warmest 
expressions  of  attachment  from  Paris.  Wal- 
pole  and  Crawford,  separated  by  disparity 
in  years,  if  not  in  character,  would  not  nat- 

1  Cited  in  Correspondence  complete  de  Madame  Du  Deffand, 
ed.  de  M.  de  Sainte-Aulaire,  t.  i:i  ,  p.  388. 


Madame  Du  Deffand  97 

urally  have  been  intimate,  but  Madame  Du 
Deffand  attempted  to  draw  these  two  to- 
gether; for  would  not  unanimity  in  friend- 
ships form  another  link  to  bind  Walpole  to 
her? 

But  the  prolonged  visits  of  Walpole  and 
Crawford  were  not  isolated  cases  of  social 
rapprochement  between  the  two  countries 
in  that  age  of  friendships.  George  Selwyn 
was  the  representative  figure  of  these  inter- 
national relations  in  England,  Madame  Du 
Deffand  in  France.  The  connection  between 
English  and  French  high  society  was  closer 
at  this  period  than  before  or  since  in  its 
history.  To  be  sure  the  attractions  of  Paris 
seemed  to  be  greater  to  the  Englishman  than 
those  of  London  to  the  Frenchman,  but  if, 
then  as  now,  the  latter,  attached  in  a  greater 
degree  to  his  own  environment,  less  seldom 
left  home,  England  attracted  him  socially 
and  politically  and  was  the  land  of  his 
choice  when  he  was  led  by  inclination  or 
necessity  to  travel. 

At  this  period,  when  the  French  salons 
and  hotels  of  the  boulevard  Saint-Germain 


98  The  Salon 

were  in  their  glory,  Englishmen  of  wit  and 
fashion  constantly  lived  in  Paris  for  long 
periods.  During  Burke's  visit,  in  1773,  he 
was  often  present  at  Madame  Du  Deffand's 
supper  parties,  and  even  Wilkes  might 
have  been  found  there.  In  1751  Lord 
Bath  writes  home  of  an  evening  at  Ma- 
dame Du  Deffand's:  ''When  the  conver- 
sation fell  upon  England,  they  knew,"  he 
wrote,  "its  history  better  than  we  our- 
selves."1 In  one  of  her  letters  to  Crawford 
— letters  in  general  so  demonstrative  that 
Walpole's  conceit  might  have  been  touched 
and  his  uneasiness  have  considerably  abated 
had  he  had  access  to  them — Madame  Du 
Deffand  translates  verses  Charles  James  Fox 
addressed  to  Mrs.  Crewe,  and  tells  of  her 
pleasure  on  again  seeing  the  great  Parlia- 
mentary leader. 

I  was  charmed  to  see  him  again,  I  had  his  name  re- 
peated four  or  five  times  when  he  was  announced, 
unable  to  believe  that  it  was  he;  I  thought  him  in  the 
midst  of  Parliament  at  the  head  of  the  Americans. 
M.  de  Beuvau  entered  a  moment  after  his  arrival;  I 

1  Correspondance  complete  de  Madame  Du  Deffand,  ed.  de 
M.  de  Sainte-Aulaire,  t.  i.,  p.  lxv. 


Madame  Du  Deffand  99 

asked  if  he  knew  him,  he  said  he  did  not.  "Eh, 
bien!  Guess  who  it  is,"  I  said.  "  It  is  the  man  who 
has  the  greatest  intellect  in  the  world  and  who  has 
committed  the  greatest  follies."  "Can  it  be  Mr.  Fox?" 
"  Ah  yes,  himself."  I  shall  have  supper  to-night  with 
him  at  the  Neckers,  with  your  ambassador  and  am- 
bassadress; to-morrow  he  will  have  supper  with  me 
with  Mesdames  de  Luxembourg,  de  Cambis  et  Bois- 
gelin,  and  the  Chevalier  de  Boufflers.' 

The  next  year  Gibbon  was  in  Paris,  and 
she  brings  forward  his  name  as  a  further  in- 
ducement to  Crawford  to  come: 

We  have  Mr.  Gibbon  here  who  will  remain  three  or 
four  months.  I  am  sure  that  he  pleases  you;  I  judge 
by  myself,  I  find  him  to  have  the  best  conversation; 
he  only  arrived  day  before  yesterday;  I  have  already 
had  supper  with  him  twice,  I  shall  have  supper  with 
him  again  to-morrow  and  the  day  after.* 

Gibbon  seldom  inspired  warm  personal 
regard  and  in  later  letters  the  writer  reit- 
erates that  she  finds  him  to  possess  plenty 
of  wit,  but  that  she  understands  why  he 
is  not  better  liked.  George  Selwyn  was 
equally  at  home  in  Paris  salons  and  English 

1  Correspondance  complete  de  Madame  Du  Deffand,  ed.  de  M. 
de  Sainte-Aulairc,  t.  iii.,  p.  258. 
5  Ibid.,  p.  266. 


ioo  The  Salon 

drawing-rooms,  for  he  spent  a  part  of  each 
year  in  his  early  life  in  Paris,  which  he 
thoroughly  appreciated.  He  and  Madame 
Du  Deffand  were  great  friends;  they,  too, 
wrote  to  each  other,  and  his  name  often 
occurs  in  her  letters  to  others,  with  his  petit 
Milord,1  and  the  little  Maria  Fagniani,2  his 
adopted  Italian  child,  his  relations  with 
whom  was  the  topic  of  the  day  in  Paris  as 
in  London,  and  in  whose  absorbing  affection 
every  one  sympathised:  "  I  do  not  know  any 
one  so  happy  at  this  moment  as  Selwyn. 
No  one  can  conceive  so  extravagant  a 
passion  as  his,  but  it  is  very  true."3  Ma- 
dame Du  Deffand  wrote  in  regard  to  this 
attachment.  She  admired  English  women 
and  draws  for  Selwyn  a  charming  portrait 
of  the  beautiful  Lady  Sarah  Bunbury,  who 
was  at  the  time  equally  a  belle  in  both  cap- 
itals.   She  found  Mrs.  Darner,4  probably  in 

1  Frederic,  Fifth  Earl  of  Carlisle. 

2  Afterward  Marchioness  of  Hertford.  See  George  Selwyn:  His 
Letters  and  his  Life,  ed.  by  E.  S.  Roscoe  and  Helen  Clergue,  London 
and  New  York,  1899,  p.  8. 

3  Correspondance  complete  de  Madame  Du  Deffand,  ed.  de  M. 
de  Sainte-Aulaire,  t.  Hi.,  p.  )?6. 

*  The  sculptress. 


Madame  Du  Deffand  101 

Paris  on  her  way  to  or  from  Rome,  inflni- 
ment  aimable.  There  is  an  admirable  pic- 
ture, too,  of  Lady  Pembroke.  Indeed,  she 
made  friends  with  all  the  English  ladies  of 
note  who  visited  Paris. 

VI 

But  something  more  detailed  must  be  said 
of  the  most  charming,  perhaps,  of  all  Ma- 
dame Du  Deffand's  many  friends  in  this 
epoch  which  was  singularly  rich  in  charming 
women.  A  stranger  visiting  Touraine  is 
shown  from  the  allees  of  the  roof-garden  of 
the  chateau  at  Amboise,  where  Francois  I 
liked  to  walk,  across  the  silver  Loire,  a  curi- 
ous columnar  building,  but  faintly  to  be 
seen.  It  is  the  Chinese  pagoda  built  by  the 
Due  de  Choiseul,  and  now  the  only  archi- 
tectural remnant  left  of  the  estate  of  Chate- 
loup,  the  most  magnificent  private  estab- 
lishment in  Europe,  the  retreat  sometimes 
of  Madame  Du  Deffand,  and  the  place  of  exile 
which  the  Duchesse  de  Choiseul  willingly 
entered,  because  she  could  here  enjoy,  un- 
disturbed, the  company  of  her  too  popular 


102  The  Salon 

husband.  For  this  was  the  pleasant  land  to 
which  he  was  banished  when,  unwilling  to 
join  the  party  of  Madame  Du  Barry,  the  Duke 
refused  to  accede  to  the  King's  request  that 
he  should  be  reconciled  to  her,  and  where  the 
spectacle — extraordinary  in  France,  which 
had  always  loved  its  kings — was  daily  be- 
held of  the  Court  running  to  pay  their  re- 
spects to  a  disgraced  minister.  It  is  easy  to 
imagine  the  life  here  in  the  sunshine,  in  the 
pretty,  flat  country  watered  by  the  Loire,  the 
Cher,  and  the  Indre,  the  laughing  landscape 
of  the  pleasure-loving  Rabelais. 

In  the  Duchesse  de  Choiseul,  Madame  Du 
Deffand  had  a  friend  more  worthy  the  name 
than  any  of  the  women  with  whom  she  was 
intimate.  She  has  come  down  to  us  bright 
and  perfect,  standing  forth  a  gracious  and 
exquisite  figure  amid  the  too  frequently  tar- 
nished portraits  which  form  the  gallery  of 
the  epoch.  She  was  beautiful,  clever,  and 
good.  She  not  only  had  the  outward  at- 
tributes of  "a  perfect  little  model  " — asWal- 
pole  wrote  to  Gray — but  she  was  also  a 
pattern  of  propriety,  of  delicacy,  tact,  and 


Madame  Du  Deffand  103 

womanly  dignity.  When  very  young  she 
married  a  man  who  soon  tired  of  the  per- 
fections of  his  wife,  but  all  her  life  she  vainly 
cherished  the  hope  of  winning  his  affection, 
and  after  his  death  she  retired  to  a  convent 
to  save  money  to  pay  his  debts.  Convent- 
bred,  she  felt  the  narrowness  and  inutility  of 
her  education,  and  set  herself  to  the  task 
of  being  equal  to  her  position  as  the  wife  of 
a  public  man.  So  complete  and  successful 
was  the  process  of  self-education  which  she 
undertook  that  at  Rome,  where  her  hus- 
band was  sent  as  ambassador,  the  charm- 
ing young  French  woman  was  admired  and 
courted  as  much  for  her  mental  attainments 
as  for  her  beauty  and  charm  of  character. 
Every  one  loved  her,  and  she  succeeded  in 
holding  to  her  ideal  of  conduct  throughout 
a  life  spent  in  the  gayest  and  most  frivolous 
court  in  Europe  to  old  age  when,  alone,  she 
passed  unscathed  and  unprotected  through 
all  the  terrors  of  the  French  Revolution. 
Madame  Du  Deffand  was  her  confidante  in 
her  painful  endeavours  to  gain  her  husband's 
affection.     In  letters    in  which  are  plainly 


104  The  Salon 

visible  the  evidences  of  a  sweet  and  strong 
nature,  we  gain  an  insight  into  this  pathetic 
life  history.  She  begs,  for  instance,  Madame 
Du  Deffand  to  say  if  the  Duke  had  spoken 
of  her,  and  asks  what  he  had  said  since  her 
last  letter.  Her  pride  in  him  was  as  great 
as  her  passion:  ''Let  us  confess  that  this 
grandpapa  is  an  excellent  man  ;  but  it  is  not 
everything  to  be  the  best  of  men  ;  I  assure 
you  that  he  is  the  greatest  the  century  has 
produced."1 

The  Duchess  was  twenty-five  years 
younger  than  Madame  Du  Deffand;  their 
friendship,  perhaps,  had  an  added  warmth 
from  this  disparity  in  years.  Just  as  at  the 
same  period  there  was  a  closer  bond  of 
affection  between  George  Selwyn,  the  fam- 
ous wit  and  beau,  and  the  Earl  of  Carlisle, 
thirty  years  his  junior,  than  perhaps  could 
have  existed  for  more  immediate  contemp- 
oraries, so  across  the  channel  in  France  be- 
tween two  celebrated  women,  the  older  as 

1  Madame  Du  Deffand  playfully  called  the  Due  and  Duchesse  de 
Choiseul  grandpapa  and  grandmamma  ;  she  was  connected  with  the 
family  through  her  maternal  grandmother,  who  was  the  stepmother  of 
the  Due  de  Choiseul. 


Madame  Du  Deffand  105 

famous  a  wit  and  as  popular,  the  younger 
also  attractive  and  interesting  and  occupying 
a  high  position,  the  same  unusual  associa- 
tion is  seen,  and  their  correspondence  opens 
up  the  same  vista  of  uncommon  minds  in 
easy  and  familiar  and  unstudied  intercourse, 
delightful  to  read  in  itself  apart  from  its 
historical  interest.  Of  a  philosophical  order 
of  mind,  the  letters  of  the  Duchess  reflect 
the  intellectual  subtleties  of  the  time;  to  her, 
as  to  Madame  Du  Deffand,  was  denied  the 
solace  of  religious  faith;  unlike  her,  however, 
she  did  not  ceaselessly  torment  herself  with 
questions  of  a  future  state,  but  her  more 
serene  temperament  found  contentment  in 
the  enjoyment  of  nature  and  in  service  for 
those  about  her;  timid  and  gentle,  she  yet 
knew  how  to  maintain  her  opinions  and  her 
dignity.  The  Duchess  possessed  the  ele- 
ments that  were  wanting  in  Madame  Du 
Deffand  and  found  in  her  friend's  more 
powerful  nature  a  natural  and  congenial 
opposite.  Monsieur  Deschanels  has  struck 
the  note  of  contrast  between  these  two 
friends,  and  Monsieur  Weiss  has  well  said 


106  The  Salon 

on  the  same  point:  "  Madame  de  Choi- 
seul  has  in  the  character  the  charm  which 
her  friend  has  in  the  intellect  and  she 
has  displayed  in  her  conduct  the  justness 
which  the  other  practised  only  in  her  style. " l 

Madame  Du  Deffand  held  the  right  theory 
of  life,  the  Duchesse  de  Choiseul  practised 
it;  and  though  her  domestic  relations  were 
not  fortunate,  she  obtained  happiness  in 
simple,  healthy  ways,  and  her  sunny  dis- 
position, good  mind,  and  warm  heart  made 
her  beloved  by  everybody — except  her  hus- 
band. 

The  French  abbes  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury were  often  more  men  of  the  world  and 
of  affairs  than  ecclesiastics.  We  all  know 
how  in  the  Abbe  de  Coulanges  Madame  de 
Sevigne"  found  her  trusted  man  of  business, 
and  a  friend  equally  near  to  the  Due  and 
Duchesse  de  Choiseul  and  to  Madame  Du 
Deffand  was  the  Abbe  Barthelemy.  He  had 
rescued  the  Duke  from  a  precarious  position 
at  Court  and,  from  the  time  of  his  marriage, 

'  Essais  sur  I'Histoire  de  la  Litterature  Franfaise,  J.  J.  Weiss, 
Paris:  Calmann  Levy,  1S91,  p.  547. 


Madame  Du  Deffand  107 

lived  with  him.  This  representative  eight- 
eenth-century abbe,  amiable,  witty,  agree- 
able, learned,  mingling  in  the  world  and  its 
joys  and  strifes,  as  well  as  pointing  the  way 
to  heaven,  turned  from  the  brilliant,  intel- 
lectual life  to  which  he  seemed  destined 
by  his  unusual  gifts  to  devote  himself  utterly 
to  the  care  and  happiness  of  "the  gentlest 
little  creature  that  ever  came  out  of  a  fairy 
egg. "  So  Walpole  enthusiastically  described 
the  Duchess.1 

Their  life-long  friendship,  so  productive  of 
happiness  for  both,  was  a  solace  to  the 
Duchess  for  the  disappointment  marriage 
had  brought,  and  to  the  abbe  for  the  loss  of 
a  career  that  had  been  the  dream  of  his 
youth.  And  if  he  sometimes  cast  regretful 
glances  backward  towards  that  youth  and 
its  promise,  in  ministering  to  the  sweet  little 
Duchess  he  forgot  its  lack  of  fulfilment. 
To  the  last  their  friendship  was  unbroken, 
and  when  the  Revolution  drove  her  from  the 
convent  to  which  she  had  retired  after  the 
death  of  her  husband,  the  good  Abbe  was 

1  Letters  of  Horace  Walpole,  ed.  by  Toynbee,  vol.  vi.,  Letter  1090. 


108  The  Salon 

the  only  visitor  whom  the  delicate,  frail 
little  old  woman  received  in  the  tiny  apart- 
ment where  she  had  taken  refuge.  Here  he 
was  seized  and  imprisoned  by  the  general 
order,  but  she  had  the  good  fortune  and  the 
happiness  of  requiting  his  devotion  by  sav- 
ing him  from  the  guillotine. 

VII 

By  the  keenness  of  her  judgment  and  the 
quality  of  her  mind  which  was  at  the  same 
time  profound  and  brilliant,  Madame  Du 
Deffand  has  earned  the  right  to  be  called  the 
feminine  Voltaire,  and  in  the  frequent  con- 
flicts of  wit  which  we  find  in  her  corre- 
spondence with  him  she  holds  her  own 
and,  indeed,  is  often  the  victor.  They  were 
drawn  together  by  a  habit  of  mind  strikingly 
similar.  Their  affectionate  attachment,  be- 
gun in  youth,  was  lifelong,  critical  though 
it  was  on  her  part,  and  divided  on  his  dur- 
ing his  quasi-conjugal  life  with  Madame  Du 
Chatelet.  When  the  philosopher,  then  be- 
come the  "patriarch  of  Ferney,"  arrived  in 
Paris,  in  1778,  he  sought,  to  be  sure,  lodg- 


Madame  Du  Deffand  109 

ings  near  Madame  d'Epinay,  but  in  this  case 
affection  for  the  later  had  not  changed  that 
for  the  earlier  friend  and  he  wrote  at  once 
to  Madame  Du  Deffand,  "  I  arrive  dead,  and 
I  only  wish  to  be  resuscitated  to  throw 
myself  at  the  feet  of  Madame  Du  Deffand." 
Madame  Du  Deffand,  in  spite  of  her  fond- 
ness for  Voltaire  and  d'  Alembert,  was  never 
either  in  love  or  in  league  with  the  philo- 
sophers. After  trying  in  vain  to  win  her  to 
their  principles  they,  as  a  body,  looked  upon 
her  with  fear  and  did  not  lose  an  opportunity 
to  do  her  an  injury.  Voltaire  never  ceased 
to  urge  her  to  join  their  ranks,  well  aware  of 
the  gain  to  them  of  so  powerful  a  friend  ; 
but  she  had  nothing  of  the  iconoclast  in 
her  disposition,  and  in  return  reproached 
him  for  the  freedom  with  which  he  expressed 
his  destructive  opinions,  and  declared  that 
she  was  by  no  means  in  sympathy  with  his 
disciples — that,  on  the  contrary,  she  found 
them  detestable,  their  hearts  cold,  their 
minds  occupied  with  themselves.  Fear  was 
not  included  in  her  composition,  and  even 
the  censure  of  Voltaire  had  no  terrors  for  her. 


no  The  Salon 

As  has  been  said,  Madame  Du  Deffand's 
life  contradicted  her  excellent  judgment; 
against  a  passion  for  simplicity,  for  frank- 
ness, for  truth  and  justice,  a  hatred  for  all 
deceit  and  affectation,  were  ranged  in  appal- 
ling strength  a  pressing  need  of  variety,  and 
an  early  satiety  of  every  form  of  pleasure, 
of  people,  of  amusements,  of  pursuits. 

"  1  know  that  all  men  are  vain  and  personal 
and  that  the  best  are  those  who  are  not  envi- 
ous and  wicked  and  who  are  simply  indiffer- 
ent. I  esteem  no  one,  and  I  cannot  escape  from 
those  whom  I  scorn."1  A  born  sceptic  is 
always  a  born  critic,  and  Madame  Du  Def- 
fand's analytical  mind  could  not  but  meas- 
ure the  hearts,  the  brains,  the  motives  of 
those  about  her — disenchantment  was  cer- 
tain. The  spirit  of  scepticism  and  criticism 
kept  her  always  doubtful  of  the  sincerity 
of  those  dearest  to  her ;  of  an  enthusiastic 
temperament,  she  found  no  one  worthy  of 
devotion  or  sacrifice.  She  divided  society 
into  three  parts  :  les  trompes,  les  trompeurs 

1  "  iMadame  Du  Deffand  et  sa  famille,"  M.  de  Segur,  Revue  des 
Deux  Mondes,  Nov.  15,  1906,  p.  395. 


Madame  Du  Deffand  m 

et  les  trompettes!  Writing  to  President 
Henault,  in  1742,  from  Forges,  whither  she 
had  gone  to  take  the  waters,  she  says  :  "As 
for  me,  I  am  sorry  not  to  see  you ;  but  I 
support  it  with  a  degree  of  courage,  because 
I  believe  that  you  do  not  share  it  much  and 
that  it  does  not  matter  to  you." 1  Even  her 
trust  in  the  Duchesse  de  Choiseul  is  touched 
by  this  blight:  "you  know  that  you  love 
me,  but  you  do  not  feel  it,"  she  said  one  day 
to  her,  a  comment  which  led  to  many  argu- 
ments on  the  subject  between  them,  as  we 
see  in  this  playful  allusion  :  "  Mr.  Walpole 
has  written  me  a  charming  letter  in  which 
he  calls  me  also  his  grandmamma,  because 
he  is  your  husband.  .  .  .  You  were  very 
sorry  to  have  him  go,  and  I  felt  your  con- 
cern much  more  than  I  knew  it."2 

Born  in  an  age  of  doubt,  Madame  Du 
Deffand,  always  quick  to  receive  impres- 
sions, was  early  affected  by  the  onward 
movement,    the    rush    of    inquiry  which, 

«  Correspondance  Complete  de  Madame  Du  Deffand,  ed.  de 
M.  de  Sainte-Aulaire,  t.  i,  p.  xlvii. 

2  Correspondance  Complete  de  Madame  Du  Deffand,  ed.  de  M# 
de  Sainte-Aulaire,  t.  i,  p.  142. 


ii2  The  Salon 

during  her  lifetime,  was  sweeping  over 
France.  By  nature  an  agnostic  she  was 
ever  desiring  to  probe  to  the  bottom  of 
things  ;  to  receive  anything  on  trust  seemed 
to  her  to  be  the  part  of  ignorance.  Yet  all 
the  time  the  possession  of  a  personal  living 
faith  was  the  strongest  desire  of  her  heart. 
All  her  life  she  was  longing  for  the  peace 
which  religion  gives,  and  all  her  life  it  was 
denied  her.  She  called  to  her  help  the  most 
famous  of  the  clergy,  attended  church,  had 
her  oratory,  her  confessor,  studied  the  Bible. 
When  she  became  blind  she  sought  even 
more  earnestly  to  find  consolation  in  the 
Scriptures,  but  her  mind  was  incapable  of 
mysticism.  "Eh!  but  can  you  under- 
stand anything  in  all  that  ?  " *  There  was  no 
sacredness  in  the  tie  of  marriage  to  her,  no 
reverence  for  religious  ceremony  of  any  kind, 
but  nominally  she  belonged  to  the  Church 
and,  far  from  attacking,  she  always  respected 
another's  belief.  "I  was  born  melancholy, 
she  wrote  her  sister,  "  inclined  to  sad  reflec- 

1  Correspondance  Complete  de  Madame  Du  Deffand,  ed.  de  M. 
de  Sainte-Aulaire,  t.  i.,  p.  20. 


Madame  Du  Deffand  113 

tions.  I  have  always  wished  very  much 
to  be  pious  like  you.  But  wishes  cannot 
change  our  dispositions.  It  is  not  any  at- 
tachment for  the  things  of  the  world  which 
turns  me  from  devotion,  it  is  my  misfortune. 
Pray  God  for  me,  my  dear  sister."1  She 
was  ready  to  receive  light  on  things  divine 
or  human,  though  without  fixed  moral  prin- 
ciples to  assist  her.  To-day  her  acute  mind 
would  have  found  more  scope,  and  she 
would  have  been  a  better  and  happier  wo- 
man, because  she  would  have  found  an  ob- 
ject in  life.  For  what  strikes  us  most  in  her 
character  is  the  incurable  ennui  from  which 
she  suffered  from  childhood,  and  from  which 
she  was  always  trying  to  escape  at  whatever 
cost.  To  a  heart  and  an  imagination,  which 
sometimes  ran  away  with  her  reason,  some 
of  the  faults  and  many  of  the  disappoint- 
ments, and  much  of  the  wearisomeness  of  her 
life  may  be  attributed.  Her  wit  was  noted  for 
its  biting  edge,  but  if  she  were  pitiless  towards 
others  she   was  not  just  towards  herself: 

1  "  Madame  Du  Deffand  ct  sa  famille,"  par  M.  le  Marquis  de  Segur, 
Revue  des  Deux  Mondcs,  Nov.  is,  1006,  p.    392. 


1 14  The  Salon 

I  am  sunk  in  the  blackest  reflections  ;  I  have  been 
thinking  that  I  have  spent  all  my  life  in  illusions,  that  I 
have  myself  dug  the  abysses  into  which  I  have  fallen, 
that  all  my  judgments  have  been  either  false  or  reckless, 
and  always  too  precipitate,  that  in  fact,  I  have  really 
never  known  any  one,  that  I  have  not  been  known 
either,  and  that  perhaps  I  have  never  known  myself.1 

French  esprit  is  sometimes  lacking  in 
humour,  and  so  it  was  with  Madame  du  Def- 
fand.  Had  she  been  given  that  sense  which 
eases  the  jarring  machinery  of  life  and  makes 
it  work  more  smoothly,  that  lightening  of  the 
heart  which  comes  from  laughter,  life  would 
have  seemed  a  less  melancholy  affair  to  this 
lonely  woman.  Madame  Du  Deffand  ex- 
perienced the  truth  of  the  saying  of  the  old 
Greek,  who  proclaimed  that  he  who  pursues 
happiness  will  never  find  it.  Without  child- 
ren or  close  family  ties,  by  the  very  elevation 
of  her  intellect  above  the  ordinary  level  about 
her,  she  felt  singularly  alone,  and  was  pos- 
sessed always  by  the  mortal  fear  of  being  de- 
serted by  the  bright  but  fickle  world  in  which 
she  had  so  long  been  a  centre.     This  craze 

1  "Madame  Du  Deffand  et  sa  famille,"  par  M.  de  Segur,  Revue  des 
Deux  blondes,  Nov.  15,  iqo6.,  p.  306. 


Madame  Du  Deffand  115 

for  companionship  was  not  extraordinary 
when  we  consider  her  physical  condition. 

I  do  not  go  to  bed  till  one  or  two,  I  do  not  sleep, 
I  wait  for  seven  o'clock  with  impatience  ;  my  pen- 
sioner arrives  and  he  reads  sometimes  for  four  hours 
before  sleep  comes  ;  when  I  sleep  it  is  eleven  or 
twelve  o'clock  or  often  later  still  ;  I  do  not  get  up  till 
five  or  six  o'clock,  at  seven  the  visits  begin,  then  sup- 
per, then  loto.  There  is  a  day  gone,  of  which  there 
remains  only  regret  to  have  employed  the  time  so 
badly,  above  all,  when  one  reflects  upon  the  little 
which  remains  of  it.  ' 

Again  she  writes:  "You  do  not  know  the 
depression  into  which  I  fall  when  I  think 
of  passing  an  evening  alone.  It  is  a  point 
fixe  which  I  have  in  the  head,  a  kind  of 
madness."2 

Although  every  one  shocked  her,  and 
every  one  wounded  her  and  bored  her,  she 
was  forced  by  this  need  of  companionship 
which  had  become  an  obsession  to  make  in- 
credible efforts  not  to  break  with  every  one. 
And  so,  as  she  declined  in  years,  her  enter- 

>  "  Madame  Du  Deffand  et  sa  famille,"  par  M.  de  Segur,  Revue  des 
Deux  Mondes,  Nov.  15,    1906,  p.  400. 

J  "  Madame  Du  Deffand  et  sa  famille,"  par  M  de  Segur,  Re-cue 
des  Dei  x  Mondes,  Nov.  15,  1906,  p.  306. 


n6  The  Salon 

tainments  were  more  carefully  considered  ; 
an  ennuyee  herself  it  was  her  constant  aim 
that  others  should  not  be  bored.  With  this 
object  in  view  the  table  was  laid,  and  feasts 
material  and  intellectual  were  provided  in 
increasing  abundance  and  delicacy  to  tempt 
the  jaded  appetites  of  those  for  whom  the 
world  held  few  novel  delights.  "  Supper," 
she  said  one  day,  "  is  one  of  the  four  ends 
of  man.  I  do  not  recall"  she  added,  iron- 
ically, ' '  the  other  three. " 1  She  who  lived  in 
a  time  of  decadence,  in  the  conscious  sad- 
ness of  a  soul  which  felt  the  impression  of 
that  worn-out  world  which  had  lived  too 
much,  partaken  of  forbidden  fruit,  and  dying 
from  excess  of  knowledge,  personified,  too, 
the  human  mind  in  quest  of  truth,  of  justice, 
and  of  light. 

It  is  evident  that  this  is  a  portrait  not  of  an 
estimable  woman  or  always  of  an  amiable 
character,  but  it  is  of  one  whose  moral 
weaknesses,  as  well  as  force  of  intellect  and 
social  gifts,  are  an  example  of  the  epoch. 

1  Correspondancc  complete  de  Madame  Du  Dcffand  ed.  de  M. 
de  Sainte-Aulaire,  t.  i.,  p.  131. 


Madame  Du  Deffand  117 

Madame  Du  Deffand  lived  in  the  wrong 
century,  a  time  which  called  out  wit,  the 
lighter  faculties  of  the  mind,  and  the  practical 
questions  which  led  to  the  Revolution  ;  the 
serenity,  peace,  faith,  and  aspirations  in 
which  the  deeper  characters  and  larger  minds 
find  sustenance,  which  bring  forth  the  poet, 
were  wanting  in  the  eighteenth  century.  In 
a  later  age,  her  capacity  would  have  found 
freer  outlet,  and  we  should  have  seen  a 
larger  life,  and  labours  in  the  world  of  litera- 
ture, not  more  interesting  to  us  it  may  be,  but 
more  satisfying  to  the  mind  and  soul  of  the 
writer.  Madame  Du  Deffand  has  been  called 
heartless,  unfeeling,  cold  ;  her  letters  prove 
her  to  have  been  passionate,  sensitive,  and 
sympathetic  ;  loving  society  but  despising  it, 
and  equally  bored  with  solitude,  with  her 
husband,  with  lovers,  with  herself. 


MADAME  D'EPINAY 

1726.  Birth  of  Louise  Florence  Petronille  d'  Escla- 
velles,  afterward  Madame  d'Epinay. 

1745.     Marriage. 

1749.  Beginning  of  intimacy  with  Francueil.  Rous- 
seau introduced.     Foundation  of  salon. 

1755.  Rupture  with  Francueil.     Beginning   of  inti- 

macy with  Grimm. 

1756.  Installs  Rousseau  in  the  Hermitage. 

1757.  Rupture  with  Rousseau.     Departs  for  Geneva. 

Meets  Voltaire. 
1759.     Returns  to  Paris.     Her  circle  enlarged. 
1762.     Obliged  to  give  up  the  chateau  de  La  Chevrette 

and  occupies  La  Briche. 
1770.     Obliged  to  give  up  La  Briche  and  thenceforth 

lives  in  different  localities  in  Paris. 
1783.     Death. 


118 


MADAME  D'EPINAY 
I 

HP  HE  influence  of  women  in  the  society  of 
France  before  the  Revolution  is  one  of 
the  interesting  features  of  the  eighteenth 
century.  It  was  an  influence  which  was 
paramount,  paradoxically  enough,  when  they 
made  no  pretension  to  political  power  or 
to  literary  reputation,  and  it  was  obtained, 
not  in  competing  with  men,  or  by  the  ex- 
ercise of  masculine  gifts,  but  by  a  brilliant 
display  of  essentially  feminine  qualities 
united  to  mental  superiority.  Their  power 
was  continuous  and  in  a  sense  general, 
not  confined  to  a  particular  group,  but  felt 
in  a  large  section  of  society;  for  it  was 
not  one  woman  who  attracted  to  her 
men  and  women  of  note,  or  the  few  who 
frequented   the  house    of  one   remarkable 

woman ;  there  was  more  than  one  salon  and 

n9 


120  The  Salon 

more  than  one  coterie  ;  but  among  them  all 
there  was  none  more  intellectually  active 
nor  was  there  any  woman  who  did  more  to 
assist  the  forward  movement  of  her  time 
than  Madame  d'Epinay. 

The  study  contained  in  the  previous  pages 
presents  a  woman  so  representative  of  the 
highest  social  and  intellectual  planeof  her  time 
that  an  appreciation  of  her  and  of  her  friends 
is  necessary  for  a  complete  realisation  of  the 
age.  The  life  of  Madame  d'Epinay  is  also 
a  history  of  a  not  less  interesting  phase  of 
that  brilliant  society  of  intellectual  vivacity, 
of  splendid  luxury,  of  social  depravity,  and 
also  of  moral  awakening.  Though  political 
influence  was  never  primarily  the  aim  of  the 
salon,  that  of  some  women  is  a  matter  of 
history.  Madame  Du  Deffand,  as  I  have 
said,  had  no  pretensions  either  as  politician 
or  philosopher,  yet  her  insight  into  affairs 
more  than  once  influenced  the  policy  of 
those  in  power  of  whom  she  was  the  friend 
and  the  confidante.  Although  uneasily  con- 
scious of  a  sense  of  impending  danger  in 
the  popular  thought  to  persons  of  her  station 


Madame  d'Epinay 

From  the  painting  by  Leotard  in  the  Musee  de  Versailles 
1  By  per  »f  Messrs.  Neurdein) 


Madame  d'Epinay  121 

Madame  Du  Deffand,  like  the  ablest  of  those 
about  her,  was  surprisingly  unappreciative 
of  the  deeper  movements  of  the  age.  Aris- 
tocratic and  exclusive,  she  turned  away  from 
the  innovations  that  characterised  the  last 
half  of  the  century  and,  though  she  pos- 
sessed a  mind  of  masculine  power,  her  let- 
ters and  a  few  fugitive  verses  alone  are  left  as 
a  record  of  her  understanding,  her  judgment, 
and  her  wit. 

Madame  d'  Epinay  was  a  woman  of  alto- 
gether different  character  who,  far  from 
strong-minded,  needing  guidance  and  easily 
led,  was  ever  under  the  sway  of  her  emo- 
tions, yet  she,  also,  possessed  uncommon 
intellectual  gifts,  the  chief  of  which  was 
a  keen  observation  to  which  was  added 
a  power  of  literary  expression.  Madame 
d'Epinay  obtained  her  reputation  in  philo- 
sophical, political,  and  literary  circles  through 
the  strength  of  her  affections  acting  upon 
a  mind  of  singular  brightness.  Her  friends 
aroused  her  interest  in  philosophy  and  poli- 
tics, her  children  led  her  to  the  study  of 
education,  on  which  she  wrote,  and  which 


i22  The  Salon 

brought  her  academic  honours.  Devoted  to 
the  philosophical  sect,  she  gathered  about 
her  its  different  elements ;  perceiving  the 
trend  of  the  reforms  they  advocated,  farther 
sighted — perhaps  by  reason  of  the  char- 
acter of  her  friendships — than  Madame 
Du  Deffand,  she  prophesied  the  Revolu- 
tion in  a  remarkable  letter  to  the  Abbe 
Galiani : 

The  suppression  of  the  Cours  des  Aides  is  expected; 
the  reason  for  haste  is  clear,  and  no  one  believes  that 
their  aim  can  be  accomplished.  Every  one  is  troubled 
by  this  downfall  of  justice;  every  one  rebels  at  the 
idea  that  the  Council  should  be  both  judge  and  plain- 
tiff. Great  is  the  consternation.  I  see  less  dis- 
position to  violence  than  to  desertion.  Many  think 
seriously  of  expatriating  themselves;  those  who  are 
bound  by  their  position  give  vent  to  their  distress  by 
rant  which  helps  nothing  but  which  soothes.  .  .  .  Each 
step  aggravates  the  ill.  Every  one  is  writing,  every 
one  will  reply.  .  .  .  Every  one  will  wish  to  dwell  on 
the  constitution  of  the  State;  heads  will  grow  excited. 
Questions  are  raised  which  no  one  formerly  would 
have  dared  consider.  This  is  an  irreparable  ill.  As 
I  have  said,  my  dear  Abbe,  these  questions  are  the 
theology  of  administration.  To  be  cleared  up  with- 
out danger,  every  man,  by  the  result  of  his  researches, 
must  find  himself  as  well  treated  and  as  happy  as  a 
reasonable  being  can  hope;  without  which  the  know- 


Madame  d'Epinay  123 

ledge  acquired  by  the  people  must   sooner  or  later 
produce  revolution."  ' 

While,  then,  eloquent  discourses  on  friend- 
ship and  love  were  led  by  Madame  Du  Def- 
fand,  politics,  philosophy,  and  morality  were 
the  subjects  which  fixed  attention  on  Ma- 
dame d'  fipinay's  salon.  Their  grace,  their 
wit,  and  their  knowledge  of  mankind  must 
always  make  these  women  charming  com- 
panions, the  more  so  because,  with  all  their 
intellectual  brilliancy,  each  is  so  much  a 
woman  whose  heart  and  mind,  though  in- 
fluenced by  the  corruption  of  her  age,  were 
constantly  rebelling  against  it ;  while  under- 
standing their  weaknesses  we  can  yet  ap- 
preciate their  endeavours  and  take  delight  in 
their  company. 

The  early  years  of  life  usually  determine 
its  direction,  and  a  knowledge  of  the  influ- 
ences to  which  she  was  subjected  in  child- 
hood is  especially  important  in  order  to 
appreciate  the  personality  and  career  of  Ma- 
dame d'£pinay.     Timid,  irresolute,  impres- 

1  Dcrnicres  Annces  de  Madame  d'Epinay,  par  Lucien  Perey  et 
Gaston  Maugras.     Paris:   Calmann  Levy,  1894,  p.  420. 


124  The  Salon 

sionable,  of  quick  perception  and  amiable 
disposition,  she  was  peculiarly  under  the 
influence  of  her  environment. 

II 

Louise  Florence  Petronille  d' Esclavelles, 
afterward  Madame  d'Epinay,  was  born 
on  March  n,  1726.  Her  father,  Baron 
d'  Esclavelles,  of  an  ancient  and  noble  Nor- 
man family,  was  Governor  of  Valenciennes 
when,  at  the  age  of  fifty-eight,  he  married 
Florence  Angelique  Proveur  de  Preux,  of  a 
noble  family  of  Flanders,  whose  escutcheon, 
however,  was  sullied  in  the  eyes  of  her 
husband's  aristocratic  kindred  by  the  con- 
nexion of  its  bearers  with  finance.  When 
his  daughter  was  ten  years  old  the  Baron 
died,  and  she  was  left  to  the  guardianship 
of  his  friend,  the  Comte  d'Affrey,  her  be- 
loved " tutor"  and  confidant,  and  of  Andre- 
Prouveur  de  Preux,  a  maternal  uncle,  a  de- 
lightful, simple,  and  original  character,  whose 
acquaintance  we  owe  to  the  Memoires  of 
Madame  d'  Epinay. 

Baron  d'  Esclavelles  leaving  little  behind 
him  beside  his  honourable  record,  his  widow 


Madame  d'  Epinay  125 

was  obliged  to  look  to  her  relatives  Tor  assist- 
ance, and  her  sister,  who  had  married  Mon- 
sieur de  Bellegarde,  one  of  the  richest 
farmers-general  in  the  kingdom,  then  living 
sumptuously  in  a  superb  mansion  on  the 
rue  St.  Honore,  offered  the  widow  and  her 
child  a  home. 

An  elderly  aunt,  the  Marquise  de  Ron- 
cherolles,  a  stranded  relic  of  the  old  aris- 
tocracy, was  the  only  remaining  relative  of 
the  Baron.  The  Marquise  had  no  home  to 
offer  but,  although  poor,  she  was  lavish 
with  the  little  fortune  left  her.  Faithful  to 
the  old  traditions,  sheltered  behind  a  con- 
vent's grating,  she  looked  out  upon  the 
changing  times  with  distrust  and  fear ;  but, 
if  she  were  narrow  in  her  ideas,  she  was 
warm  in  her  sympathies.  No  one,  how- 
ever, was  more  scornful  of  the  financiers 
among  whom  the  rich  connexions  of  her 
nephew's  wife  were  enrolled  and  so  it  was 
natural  that  she  should  beg  the  Baroness  to 
gather  together  the  remnants  of  her  scanty 
fortune,  place  her  daughter  with  her  in  the 
convent,  and  solicit  the  king  for  a  pension  ; 


126  The  Salon 

at  all  events,  to  decline  Madame  de  Belle- 
garde's  hospitality,  which  would  alter  their 
social  position  and  ruin  the  child's  prospect 
of  a  husband  in  her  own  rank  of  life. 

But  the  Baroness,  a  little  frightened  by 
the  aristocratic  aunt's  grand  manner,  pre- 
tensions, and  prejudices,  neglected  to  sue 
for  the  pension,  and  decided  to  accept  her 
sister's  invitation.  It  did  not  prove  a  happy 
choice.  The  Marquise  alone,  more  appre- 
ciative than  others  of  the  character  of 
Louise,  not  only  loved  her,  but  perceived 
the  emotional  temperament  and  quick  intel- 
ligence which,  in  after  life,  was  to  make 
her  house  the  meeting-place  for  the  best 
intellects  in  Paris. 

"You  complain  of  her  sensibility,"  she 
wrote,  "but  it  is  on  the  contrary  a  good 
gift  from  Heaven.  I  am  sixty  years  old,  I 
have  seen  the  world,  and  I  have  never  seen 
a  sensitive  nature  turn  out  badly  ;  if  she  is 
badly  led,  she  may  err,  but  she  will  never  be 
irredeemably  lost."1 

1  La  Jeunesse  de  Madame  d'  Epinay,  par  Lucien  Perey  et 
Gaston  Maugras.     Pars  :  Calmann  Levy,  1898,  p.  2  1 . 


Madame  d'  Epinay  127 

Though  Madame  de  Bellegarde  was  very 
rich,  she  was  very  mean.  Jealous  fears, 
moreover,  were  aroused,  her  clever  and 
winning  little  niece  attracting  more  atten- 
tion than  her  own  children  and,  in  a  few 
months,  Louise  was  installed  in  a  convent. 
She  was  taken  away  at  the  age  of  thirteen, 
and  we  have  a  description  of  her  as  she 
appeared  at  this  time  of  her  life  to  Monsieur 
d'Affrey:  "  Without  being  beautiful,  she 
had  a  distinguished,  noble,  and  touching 
appearance.  Her  features  were  wonderfully 
expressive.  Her  soul  was  painted  in  her 
innocent  eyes  which  expressed  as  much 
candour  as  sweetness  and  intelligence."1 

It  was  this  interesting  figure  which,  in 
the  early  summer  of  1739,  appeared  at  the 
chateau  de  La  Chevrette,  the  magnificent 
country  seat  of  Monsieur  de  Bellegarde,  in 
the  northern  environs  of  Paris,  the  romantic 
setting  of  the  first  scene  in  the  painful 
domestic  drama  of  the  life  of  our  heroine. 

The  outline  of  the  moat,  the  gate,  the  left 

1  La  Jeunesse  de  Madame  d'  Epinay,  par  Lucien  Percy  et 
Gaston  Maugras.      Paris  :  Calmann  Levy,   1898,  p.  34. 


128  The  Salon 

wing,  and  some  outbuildings  are  all  that 
now  remain  of  the  superb  chateau.  Built 
in  the  grand  siecle,  it  displayed  all  the  splen- 
dour and  ostentation  of  the  old  regime.  A 
sketch  of  this  interesting  building  drawn 
by  Monsieur  de  Francueil — whom  we  shall 
meet — and  engraved  by  Monsieur  de  J  Lilly, 
the  second  son  of  Monsieur  de  Bellegarde, 
still  exists.  It  rises  stiff  and  stately,  with 
its  long  facade,  square  wings,  and  mansard 
roof,  from  the  midst  of  geometrical  garden 
beds,  bordered  by  regular  lines  of  trees ; 
a  fountain  in  an  ornamental  basin  plays 
in  the  foreground.  Marble  groups  adorn 
the  shaded  lawns,  and  the  magnificent  park, 
containing  the  Hermitage  lying  concealed  in 
its  outskirts,  stretch  away  to  the  wooded 
heights  of  Montmorency. 

Louise  early  perceived  her  dependent 
position  in  her  aunt's  household,  and  it  was 
not  improved  when  one  of  her  cousins 
was  discovered  making  love  to  her,  for  the 
youthful   La  Live,  the  eldest  son,1  appre- 

1  Denis  Joseph  La  Live  de  Bellegarde  took  the  name  of  d'  Epinay, 
in   1 74 1,  from  a  title  then  acquired.      He  enjoyed  all  the  rights  and 


Madame  d'  Epinay  129 

dating  the  attraction  of  his  cousin,  had 
lost  no  time  in  allowing  his  admiration 
to  be  known.  The  boy  and  girl  were  at  once 
separated  by  their  angry  relatives,  and  the 
gentle  Louise  promised,  weeping,  to  give 
up  her  young  lover,  but  naively  owned 
that,  following  the  direction  of  her  con- 
fessor, she  had  offered  prayers  and  gifts  at 
the  altar  that  she  should  find  a  rich  hus- 
band, and  had  undergone  a  neuvaine  as  a 
thank-offering  for  the  love  of  her  cousin, 
believing  that  she  had,  in  both  acts,  fulfilled 
her  duties  as  a  good  Christian.  Presently  it 
was  learned  that  the  priest  had  worked  on 
the  mind  of  young  La  Live  as  well,  with 
the  view  of  finally  obtaining  ascendency 
over  the  entire  family.  The  old  Marquise, 
to  whom  the  thought  of  such  an  alliance 
was  even  more  offensive  than  to  Madame 
de  Bellegarde,  treated  this  matrimonial  essay 
with  tact,  and  the  young  girl,  who  was  suf- 
fering from  shame  and  remorse,  with  much 
kindness ;  but  at  the  same  time  she   an- 

privileges  of  the  eldest  son,  though  he  had  an  elder  brother,  who, 
being  feeble-minded,  was  confined  in  a  convent. 
9 


130  The  Salon 

nounced  that  she  would  never  give  her 
consent  to  a  marriage  between  them  unless 
La  Live  should  enter  the  army.  The  in- 
heritance, however,  of  his  father's  profession 
and  the  rich  emoluments  of  his  office  were 
not  to  be  thrown  away,  and  the  young  man 
was  sent  on  a  tour  of  the  provinces  from 
which  the  revenues  were  collected.  But 
presently,  from  time  to  time,  came  reports 
of  irregularities  which  augured  ill  for  future 
domestic  tranquillity. 

The  death  of  Madame  de  Bellegarde,  in 
1740,  again  altered  the  current  of  the  lives 
of  mother  and  daughter,  for  the  Baroness, 
who  had  taken  Louise  away,  returned  to 
take  charge  of  the  bereaved  family.  The 
shrouded  mirrors,  the  sombre  hangings,  all 
the  grim  spectacle  that  a  French  house  in 
mourning  at  that  epoch  presented,  made  a 
vivid  impression  upon  the  sensitive  girl, 
who  was  not  sorry  when  she  was  returned 
to  her  convent. 

Louise  was  nearly  seventeen  when  she 
again  entered  the  family  circle  and  drifted 
helplessly  toward  a  life  for  which  nature  had 


Madame  d'  Epinay  131 

ill  fitted  her  to  play  an  heroic  part.  Had 
she,  however,  been  surrounded  by  good  in- 
fluences, the  very  traits  which  made  her  in- 
capable of  withstanding  temptation  would 
have  been  added  charms  in  a  character  which 
possessed  as  a  foundation  many  graces  of 
spirit.  But  circumstances  did  not  tend  to 
upbuilding  of  character.  La  Live  did  not 
cease  his  attentions  in  his  short  visits  to  his 
home,  but  his  cousin  had  already  heard 
enough  of  his  habits  to  be  apprehensive  of 
his  future  while  her  delicate  position  in  the 
household  was  unwisely  exaggerated  by  her 
mother  until  timidity  and  constraint  gave 
rise  to  a  want  of  frankness  and  sincerity 
from  which  she  suffered  all  her  life. 

An  advantageous  marriage  which  was 
proposed  at  this  time  by  a  noble  family, 
was  declined,  owing  to  the  refusal  of  Mon- 
sieur de  Bellegarde,  who  was  probably  in- 
fluenced by  an  unconfessed  prejudice  for 
his  son's  inclination,  to  complete  the  dot, 
and  young  d'  Epinay,  now  come  into 
the  property  of  that  name,  piqued  that 
this  proposition    should    even    have   been 


132  The  Salon 

considered,  and  aware  of  his  cousin's  grow- 
ing hesitancy  to  regard  him  in  the  light  of  a 
husband,  invented  tales  of  undermined 
health,  broken  spirits,  and  a  wasted  life.  His 
schemes  were  not  laid  in  vain  ;  the  death  of 
his  mother  had  removed  the  chief  obstacle, 
and  Monsieur  de  Bellegarde  soon  gave  his 
consent.  The  marriage  took  place  December 
23,  1745. 

in 

The  modern  phase  of  the  influence  of 
wealth  now  makes  its  appearance  and  men 
who  formerly  carefully  concealed  the  extent 
of  their  riches,  now  found  such  prudence 
unnecessary  and,  instead,  boldly  proclaimed 
their  right  to  a  place  in  high  society. 

The  farmers-general  of  the  eighteenth 
century  were  at  the  head  of  finance  ;  to 
them  was  given  the  charge  of  all  indirect 
taxation,  which  they  decided,  fixed,  and 
collected  ;  there  was  supposed  to  be  one 
supreme  director,  but  the  post  involved  the 
expenditure  of  such  large  sums  that  the 
work  was  divided  between  many  associates  ; 


Madame  d'  Epinay  133 

some  of  their  number  made  regular  tours  of 
the  provinces  to  review  and  verify  the  rev- 
enues, and  their  selection  and  disposition 
were  at  the  disposal  of  the  Comptroller- 
General. 

One  of  the  scandals  of  the  period  was  the 
extravagance  of  the  men  who  held  these 
offices,  and  Monsieur  d'  Epinay  divided  with 
Monsieur  de  la  Popeliniere  the  evil  reputa- 
tion of  standing  at  the  head  of  their  asso- 
ciates in  this  respect.  Though  both  were 
clever  financiers,  each  squandered  so  much 
money  and  lived  in  such  open  violence  of 
public  opinion  that  Monsieur  d'  Epinay 
finally  lost  his  lucrative  post.  The  farmers- 
general  not  only  held  the  first  place  in 
finance,  but  they  occupied  a  unique  position 
in  society,  though  they  did  not  yet  enjoy 
the  power  which  wealth  now  obtains,  for 
many  of  the  aristocracy  still  stood  disdain- 
fully aloof.  They  lived  in  the  greatest  luxury, 
worked  with  the  philosophers,  and  drew 
about  them  the  best  that  society  afforded 
in  cultivated  minds. 

The  chateau  de  La  Chevrette,  as  well  as 


134  The  Salon 

the  town  house  of  the  family,  possessed 
many  art  treasures,  for  a  love  of  pictures,  as 
well  as  of  music,  was  a  marked  characteristic 
of  Monsieur  de  Bellegarde,  whose  passion 
and  aptitude  for  the  arts  descended  to  his 
children.  Monsieur  d'  Epinay  possessed  his 
share  of  this  family  heritage,  but  his  aesthetic 
tastes  did  not  prevent  him  from  having  a 
thoroughly  bad  moral  character.  He  was 
a  dissipated  spendthrift,  an  unkind  son  and 
husband — he  always  professed  to  be  fond  of 
his  wife — though  he  somewhat  disguised 
these  unpleasant  features  by  cultivated  and 
agreeable  manners. 

The  paramount  influence  that  parents  and 
relatives  maintain  to-day  in  French  families 
is  small  compared  with  that  which  they 
exercised  at  the  time  of  which  I  am  writing. 
The  newly  married  in  eighteenth-century 
France,  unless  possessed  of  large  means, 
had  no  separate  establishment,  and  were  as 
much  under  the  authority  of  parents  as  before 
marriage.  Old  companions  and  new  friends 
could  not  be  received  without  parental 
sanction,  their  disagreements  and  discords 


Madame  d'  Epinay  135 

must  be  openly  considered  and  settled  in 
the  family  circle  and  if  serious  disputes 
arose  between  husband  and  wife,  all  their 
relatives  were  summoned,  and  the  decision 
of  this  conclave  was  as  binding  as  that  of  a 
court  of  law. 

Madame  d'  Epinay  was  ever  the  creature 
of  her  emotions — sensibility  was  the  link 
between  herself  and  Rousseau — and,  self- 
conscious,  she  was  also  harassed  by  the 
questionings  of  a  sensitive  conscience.  Be- 
fore her  marriage  her  health  had  suffered 
from  her  anxiety  to  do  her  duty  scrupulously 
and  her  wish  to  please  every  one  exactly. 
Marriage  did  nothing  to  alleviate  her  situa- 
tion. She  tried  to  conceal  her  husband's 
late  hours  from  their  parents  as  if  he  were  a 
school-boy,  and  if  she  remained  out  of  the 
house  longer  than  was  expected  she  returned 
in  terror,  afraid  of  their  reproaches. 

It  was  a  singular  life,  to  our  ideas,  with 
little  of  the  privacy  which  is  valued  so  highly 
in  the  English  family,  but  in  which  affec- 
tion, perhaps,  held  as  large  a  part,  and  where 
reverence  for  the  authority  of  parents  was  a 


136  The  Salon 

pleasing  spectacle,  if  it  sometimes  proved  an 
uncomfortable  experience.  But  place  an  in- 
dividual under  such  a  system  of  espionage, 
whether  in  family  life  or  at  school,  and 
character  loses  opportunity  of  growth,  ex- 
cess succeeds  asceticism,  calculated  deceit 
follows  extravagant  confidences;  or,  if  a  sub- 
missive sweetness  and  an  appealing  gentle- 
ness be  gained,  these  pleasing  attributes  too 
often  are  accompanied  by  a  fatal  weakness, 
and  when  the  individual  may  have  need  of 
all  his  powers  of  resistance  cultivated  to  their 
utmost  and  strengthened  by  habit  and  self- 
control,  unaccustomed  to  self-reliance,  he 
may  find  himself  unfitted  for  the  struggle 
of  existence.  This  was  the  system  under 
which  Louise  d'  Epinay  was  educated  and 
from  which  she  suffered  throughout  her 
life. 

Between  the  rigid  rules  of  her  mother, 
who  held  all  places  of  amusement  in  horror, 
and  the  license  of  her  husband,  who  would 
have  led  her  into  the  most  dissipated  society 
of  Paris,  Madame  d'  Epinay  was  in  constant 
difficulties.   The  glamour  of  the  honeymoon 


Madame  d'  Epinay  137 

was  soon  dispersed,  and  the  bride,  still  in 
love  with  her  husband,  quickly  had  reason 
to  complain  of  his  neglect.  To  escape  her 
reproaches,  he  threw  her  among  unsuitable 
and  even  evil  companions. 

The  unsophisticated  wife  was  first  intro- 
duced to  Madame  d'Arty,  whose  notorious 
connexion  with  the  Prince  de  Conti  does 
not  seem  to  have  compromised  her  in  the 
eyes  of  society.  She  was  followed  by  the 
most  dangerous  of  the  mondaines  of  Paris. 
Mademoiselle  d' Ette,  though  "beautiful  as 
an  angel,"  was  an  intriguer.  Introduced 
to  Madame  d'  Epinay  by  her  husband,  she 
sought,  under  the  guise  of  friendship,  to 
detach  her  new  friend  from  him,  in  order  to 
place  herself  on  a  confidential  footing  and 
become  indispensable  in  this  rich  household. 
Madame  d'  Epinay,  ignorant  of  her  true 
character,  and  deceived  by  her  agreeable 
demeanour,  confided  to  her  the  story  of  her 
unhappy  married  life.  The  lessons  of  this 
bad  counsellor  were  not  without  results 
and,  a  real  stage  temptress,  she  moves 
across  the  scene,  awakening  doubt  and  fol- 


i38  The  Salon 

lowed  by  the  practice  of  deceit  and  all  the 
fatal  consequences  of  perverted  morals. 

Throughout  her  life  Madame  d'  Epinay 
felt  the  need  for  association  with  a  stronger 
will,  and  it  was  largely  through  the  in- 
fluence of  Mademoiselle  d'  Ette  that  her 
intimacy  with  Monsieur  de  Francueil 1  began. 

In  his  extravagance  and  dissipation,  Fran- 
cueil nearly  equalled  Monsieur  d'  Epinay  ; 
handsome,  clever,  and  accomplished,  he 
was  known  as  an  artist  and  musician  at  a 
time  when  a  high  degree  of  excellence  was 
necessary  for  such  a  reputation,  and  to  him 
must  be  given  the  credit  of  introducing  to 
the  house  of  Madame  d'  Epinay  the  cele- 
brated men  who  formed  her  mind  and  made 
her  salon  famous. 

Four  years  had  passed  since  Madame 
d'  Epinay's  marriage.  She  had  already  lost 
her  youthful  freshness.  Susceptible  and  sen- 
sitive, her  health,  never  strong,  was  quickly 
affected  by  her  mind,  and  disappointments 
and  grievances  had  robbed  her  as  well 
of  her   good   spirits.      In  figure  she  was 

1  Francueil  was  the  grandfather  of  George  Sand. 


Madame  d'  Epinay  139 

small  and  thin,  and  the  delicacy  of  her  ap- 
pearance was  accentuated  by  an  abundance 
of  dark  hair,  which  grew  prettily  about  her 
temples  and  contrasted  strikingly  with  the 
extraordinary  whiteness  of  her  skin.  Large 
brown  eyes,  usually  downcast,  completed 
a  countenance  which,  though  never  beau- 
tiful and  scarcely  pretty,  must  have  been 
extremely  interesting,  for  her  seductive 
charm  is  generally  acknowledged.  Though 
mentally  strong,  she  had  no  brilliantly  at- 
tractive and  quick  imagination  ;  her  mind 
rather  showed  its  power  in  its  exactitude, 
precision,  and  in  the  justness  of  her  deci- 
sions ;  her  ideas  were  slow  in  forming,  nor 
was  she  ready  in  their  expression,  restrained 
not  only  by  a  natural  slowness  of  speech, 
but  by  an  unconquerable  reserve  and 
timidity. 

Francueil  was  thirty-one ;  petted,  flat- 
tered, spoiled,  but  pleasing,  he  had  only 
to  exert  himself  to  make  a  conquest  of  the 
entire  family.  He  persuaded  Monsieur  de 
Bellegarde  to  build  a  theatre  at  La  Chev- 
rette,  for  which  he  even  gained  the  consent 


140  The  Salon 

of  the  austere  Baroness,  and  organized  a 
company  which  soon  attracted  the  atten- 
tion of  society.  Hither  he  brought  Rousseau, 
who  took  part  in  his  own  plays.  Duclos, 
the  greatest  gossip  in  the  town,  came  to 
criticise,  and  remained  in  the  hope  of  being 
enrolled  among  the  players,  his  head  turned 
by  the  captivating  young  hostess,  while 
Gauffecourt,  the  delightful  Genevan  watch- 
maker, one  of  the  popular  idols,  attached 
himself  to  Madame  d'  Epinay  with  a  fidelity 
which  never  wavered.  This  was  the  nucleus 
and  the  beginning  of  one  of  the  most  mem- 
orable salons  of  the  eighteenth  century — 
a  singular  group,  typical  of  the  time,  con- 
taining a  most  contradictory  collection  of 
personal  qualities,  and  of  which  Madame 
d'  Epinay  was  the  greatest  paradox. 

IV 

Paris,  in  that  remarkable  period  between 
1750  and  the  Revolution,  was,  in  divers 
ways,  cosmopolitan.  Many  distinguished 
Germans  were  settled  there,  whose  names 
only  reveal  their  foreign   origin,  so  com- 


Madame  d'  Epinay  14 r 

pletely  assimilated  did  they  become  with 
the  forward  movement  produced  by  the 
great  intellectual  activity  of  their  adopted 
country.  German  officers  were  popular, 
and  German  discipline  was  urged  in  the 
reforms  of  the  army. 

The  Comte  de  Schonberg  and  his  relative, 
the  brilliant  and  prodigal  Comte  de  Friesen, 
were  favourites  in  the  salons,  and  Grimm 
and  d'Holbach  added,  both  by  talent,  the 
latter  by  hospitality  as  well,  to  the  pres- 
tige of  men  of  letters  in  Paris.  Grimm, 
disappointed  at  the  failure  of  his  literary 
debut  after  leaving  the  University  of  Leipzig, 
had  come  to  France  as  tutor  to  the  sons  of  the 
Comte  de  Schonberg.  Rousseau,  attracted 
to  Grimm  by  his  interest  in  music,  intro- 
duced him  to  the  Encyclopedistes,  and  he 
obtained  the  post  of  secretary  to  the  Comte 
de  Friesen.  From  that  time  his  success 
was  assured,  and  he  was  admitted  to  the 
best  society  of  Paris.  Gauffecourt  called 
him  "Tyran  le  Blanc,"  a  term  which  con- 
tained a  double  meaning,  relating  as 
it    did    both  to  his  character  and   to  his 


H2  The  Salon 

complexion,  for  he  painted  his  cheeks  with 
white  lead. 

Baron  Friederich  Melchior  Grimm1  be- 
longed to  a  characteristic  Saxon  type — tall, 
loose-jointed,  with  prominent  eyes.  He  was 
indolent,  indifferent,  and  ill  at  ease,  with 
all  the  brusqueness  and  hardness  of  fibre 
of  his  race.  He  was  always  authorita- 
tive without  being  always  correct,  and 
though  not  devoid  of  sympathy,  was 
without  sensitiveness.  Grimm  inspired  con- 
fidence without  giving  it;  he  possessed 
penetration,  but  at  the  same  time  he 
was  slow  and  dull.  Obsequious  toward 
those  in  authority,  the  epithet  of  "Tyran" 
could  only  be  applied  in  the  case  of  those 
who,  like  Madame  d'  Epinay,  depended  on 
him  ;  Catherine  II  objected  as  vigorously 
to  his  "  prosternations  "  as  she  had  hitherto 
done  to  those  of  Madame  Geoffrin.  When  his 
jealousy  or  prejudices  were  aroused  Grimm 
was  not  an  impartial  judge ;  he  has  been 

1  Grimm  was  of  bourgeois  origin,  obtaining  his  title  in  1775  when 
he  was  made  minister  plenipotentiary  to  the  Court  of  France  by  the 
Due  de  Saxe  Gotha. 


GRIMM. 
After  the  Drawiny  hi/  CarmnnteUe. 


Madame  d'  Epinay  143 

called,  nevertheless,  the  best  critic  that  the 
century  produced,  but  he  lacked  the  sacred 
fire,  the  life-producing  seed;  of  creative 
genius  he  had  none. 

Contrasts  in  character  as  were  Grimm 
and  Madame  d'  Epinay,  it  was  this  very 
difference  which  produced  her  reliance  upon 
him.  According  to  the  Memoires,  their  in- 
timacy had  its  origin  in  a  romantic  adven- 
ture. One  evening  at  the  house  of  the 
Comte  de  Friesen,  Madame  d'  Epinay's  repu- 
tation was  violently  assailed,  and  Grimm, 
whom  Rousseau  had  but  lately  introduced 
to  her,  gallantly  took  up  her  defence. 

I  have  had  the  honour  of  meeting  Madame 
d'  Epinay.  .  .  .  She  is  intelligent,  they  say  that  she 
does  much  good,  that  she  is  high-minded  and  generous. 
No  one  can  persuade  me  that  in  twenty-four  hours 
habits  and  principles  can  be  changed  and  all  the  ad- 
vantages which  an  honest  person  enjoys  be  sacrificed 
for  interests  so  mean.1 

The  discussion,  however,  still  went  on, 
and  became  so  violent  that  the  participants 
descended  to  the  garden,  where  a  duel  was 

1  Memoires  de  Madame  d' Epinay,  par  M.  Paul  Boiteau.  Paris  : 
Bibliotheque-Charpentier,  1891,  t.  i.,  p.  446. 


H4  The  Salon 

fought,  and  Grimm  was  wounded.  Soon  af- 
terwards the  Baron,  now  become  a  hero,  ac- 
companied d'  Holbach  on  a  journey  of  some 
months'  duration,  but  he  did  not  leave  Paris 
before  seeing  Madame  d'  Epinay,  who,  with 
Madame  d'Esclavelles,  received  him  warmly, 
and  on  his  return  he  was  welcomed  as  an 
old  friend. 

But  the  fact  that  Madame  d'  fipinay  had 
found  a  defender  did  not  save  her  from  fur- 
ther hostile  criticism.  Duclos,  Voltaire's  suc- 
cessor as  historian  of  France  and  a  man  who 
was  made  much  of  in  society  where  his  rude 
wit  amused,  attempting  to  supplant  Francueil 
in  Madame  d'  Epinay's  affections,  perceived 
Grimm's  rising  influence  with  increasing 
dislike.  His  behaviour  at  last,  the  lady 
claimed,  became  insupportable,1  and  she 
refused  him  admittance  to  her  house,  a 
proceeding  which  became  the  subject  of 
considerable  gossip  all  over  the  town. 
Francueil,  also,  by  his  reckless  follies,  had 
lost   her    good   opinion,   and,    in   spite   of 

1  Memoires  de  Madame  d'  Epinay,  par  M.   Paul    Boiteau,  t. 

ii.,  p.  77. 


Madame  d'  Epinay  145 

her  popularity,  Madame  d'  £pinay  was  not 
happy.  "Young,  rich,  interesting,  witty, 
and  charming,"  as  Grimm  depicts  her  at  this 
time  of  her  life,  she  yet  had  good  reason 
to  feel  dissatisfied,  and  turned  her  thoughts 
to  the  religious  life,  the  refuge  of  so  many 
women  who  were  weary  of  the  world. 

But  fortunately  her  confessor  was  neither 
thetypical  worldly  abbeoftheeighteenth-cen- 
tury  nor  was  he  the  ascetic  ecclesiastic,  dead 
to  all  interests  save  those  of  the  Church.  The 
one  might  possibly  have  offered  himself  as 
a  consoler,  the  other  have  taken  her  income. 
The  religion  of  abbe  l'Martin  was  of  another 
quality.  Instead  of  taking  advantage  of  her 
weakness,  he  directed  her  to  fulfil  her  duties 
to  her  family  and  to  society.  "  1  see,  Ma- 
dame, that  you  are  going  to  use  God  as  a 
makeshift.  If  a  person  despises  the  world 
when  he  forsakes  it  for  God,  it  may  as  well 
be  said  that  he  who  enters  the  world  de- 
spises God."1 

Madame  d'  Epinay  was   obliged    to    ac- 

1  Mi-moircs  dc  Madame  d'  Epinay,    par  M.   Paul  Boiteau,    t. 
i.,  p.  ",00. 


146  The  Salon 

knowledge  the  force  of  the  reasoning  of  the 
good  abbe,  and  again,  though  somewhat 
sadly,  gathered  up  the  tangled  threads  of 
her  life.  That  life  we  must  not  judge  from 
the  standards  of  to-day;  Madame  d' Epinay 
and  her  friends  would  now  be  as  amazed  as 
ourselves  at  the  license  then  tolerated. 

Society  among  the  upper  classes  was 
composed  of  men  and  women  absolutely 
without  occupation.  Parents  of  any  posi- 
tion saw  little  of  their  children,  who  were 
taken  from  their  mother  at  birth  and 
given  in  charge  of  a  foster-mother  till  the 
age  of  five,  when  they  were  sent  to  college  or 
to  a  convent  until  a  marriage  was  arranged. 
Practical  politics,  as  we  know  them,  did  not 
then  afford  a  career  any  more  than  business. 
There  were  no  such  resorts  as  Brooke's  and 
White's  that  flourished  across  the  Channel ; 
the  cercle  of  the  boulevards  of  to-day  had  not 
come  intoexistence.  Unlike  the  Englishman, 
too,  who  likes  to  be  by  himself,  and  amuses 
himself  with  sport,  the  Frenchman  enjoys 
society  and  the  companionship  of  women. 
So,  in  Paris,  men  and  women  spent  their 


Madame  d'  Epinay  147 

time  together  in  the  stimulating  atmosphere 
of  the  salons,  at  public  balls,  at  the  theatre 
or  the  gaming-table. 

A  predilection  for  country  life,  how- 
ever, is  a  feature  of  the  period,  and  the 
different  coteries  would  meet  at  their  grand 
chateaux  where,  with  little  outside  them- 
selves to  divert  them,  they  sat  in  their 
stately,  cold,  somewhat  empty,  though  mag- 
nificently decorated  salons,  the  women  at  the 
embroidery  frame,  the  men  sketching ; 
sometimes  they  read  aloud,  and  chess  was 
a  favourite  game  ;  for  the  evening  a  concert 
might  be  arranged,  or  a  comedy — written  by 
one  of  the  company — but  exercise  was  gen- 
erally limited  to  walks  in  the  straight  garden 
paths  or  through  the  leafy  lanes  of  the  ancient 
parks. 

In  many  respects  it  was  an  ideal  state  of 
society.  Men  and  women  were  not  sepa- 
rated ;  their  aims  and  interests  were  iden- 
tical, and  they  joined  in  the  same  pursuits, 
while  practice  in  the  art  of  pleasing  had 
developed  a  careful  observance  of  the  ameni- 
ties which   brighten  existence.     A  charm- 


148  The  Salon 

ing  courtesy  was  the  rule  in  behaviour, 
antipathies  and  prejudices  were  softened  or 
conquered,  sarcasm  was  frowned  down  as 
a  needless  weapon  for  wit,  and  discussion 
never  degenerated  into  dispute.  Manners 
were  easy  and  gracious,  yet  dignified ;  the 
timid  were  given  confidence,  the  reserved 
were  drawn  out,  support  was  given  without 
the  appearance  of  patronage.  As  the  century 
wore  on  Rousseau  set  the  fashion  for  simplic- 
ity, and  the  graver  tone  of  thought  did  not  ex- 
tinguish the  gay,  light  good-humour  thrown 
over  the  fundamental  seriousness  of  the 
Latin  race.  It  was  a  state  only  to  be  reached 
under  the  conditions  then  existing,  and  by 
a  people  of  special  instincts,  tastes,  and  of 
special  intellectual  development.  It  created 
a  society  which  was  acknowledged  through- 
out Europe  as,  in  outward  aspect  at 
least,  a  pattern  of  elegance,  sobriety,  and 
amiability.1 

In  this  odd  mixture  of  ideas  and  ideals  the 
sole  purpose  of  marriage  was  for  establish- 

1  La  Femme  au  Dix-Huitieme  Steele,  par  Edmond  et  Jules  de 
Goncourt.      Paris  :    Bibiiothcque-Charpentier,  1896,  p.  64. 


Madame  d'  Epinay  149 

ment ;  for  a  woman  it  was  the  only  means  by 
which  she  could  benefit  from  society  ;  con- 
genial personality  was  hardly  considered^ 
and  a  man  and  wife  in  love  were  a  ridiculous 
anomaly,  not  only  uncommon,  but  rather 
shocking  to  the  taste  which  formed  the 
moral  code. 

The  study  of  the  period  brings  forcibly 
before  us  the  remarkable  change  that  society 
has  since  undergone,  and  it  was  largely 
the  ideas  which  these  very  men  and 
women  of  whom  I  am  writing  evoked 
and  spread  which  provoked  and  supported 
the  Revolution,  when  old  forms  fell  for- 
ever and  modern  society,  with  its  theories, 
reforms,  and  practices,  came  into  being. 

Monsieur  de  Bellegarde,  foreseeing  that 
his  son  would  eventually  ruin  his  family, 
had  settled  an  income  on  Madame  d'  Epinay 
and  her  children  but,  though  Monsieur 
d'  Epinay  and  his  wife  were  now  practically 
separated,  he  continually  annoyed  her  by 
demands  for  money,  which  she  seldom  had 
the  strength  of  mind  to  refuse.  Her  troubles 
had  already  begun  to  affect  her  health,  but 


150  The  Salon 

she  had  the  consolation  of  her  children 
whom,  contrary  to  custom,  she  personally 
looked  after  and  whose  education  was  her 
chief  pleasure  and  interest.  Her  friends, 
too,  occupied  a  large  place  in  her  life, 
making  up  in  a  measure  for  some  of  its 
disappointments.  Grimm,  Rousseau,  Saint- 
Lambert,  Desmoulins,  and  Gauffecourt,  her 
''five  bears,"were  her  constant  companions. 
A  long  epistle  in  verse,  addressed  to  Grimm 
at  about  this  time,  playfully  begins  : 

Moi,  de  cinq  ours  la  souveraine, 
Qui  les  donne  et  present  des  lois, 
Faut-il  que  je  sois  a  la  fois 

Et  votre  esclave  et  votre  reine, 

O  des  tyrans  les  plus  tyran.1 


A  woman  who  has  been  characterised  as 
''the  best  endowed  and  the  most  sweetly 
excellent  of  her  epoch,"  the  heroine  of 
Rousseau's  famous  romance,  the  Comtesse 
d'  Houdetot,  youngest  of  Monsieur  de 
Bellegarde's  children,  was  also  connected 

1  La  Jeunesse  de  Madame  d'  Epinay,  par  Lucien  Perey  et 
Gaston  Maugras.      Paris  :  Calmann  Levy,  1898,  p.  437. 


Madame  d'  Epinay  15 x 

with  Madame  d'Epinay's  salon,  and  is  in- 
timately associated  with  some  of  the  most 
interesting  episodes  of  her  life. 

The  Countess  possessed  that  indefinable 
human  quality,  that  subtle,  sympathetic 
birthright,  to  which  is  given  the  name  of 
charm.  The  spell  that  she  wielded  over 
her  contemporaries  proceeded  from  disposi- 
tion, character,  and  mind,  for  she  was  alto- 
gether without  personal  beauty.  Fragonard 
painted  her,  and  we  are  disappointed.  Her 
eyes  are  round,  a  signal  defect  in  the  time 
of  the  Bourbons,  the  beauty  of  whose 
almond-shaped  eyes  was  so  celebrated,  and 
her  sight  was  so  bad  that  she  was  uncer- 
tain in  her  movements,  but  intelligence, 
good  feeling,  and  refinement  lent  beauty 
to  her  expression.  She  had,  besides,  the 
gift  of  good-humour;  cheerfulness  and  gaiety 
surrounded  her  wherever  she  moved;  even 
a  marriage  without  love  could  not  quench 
her  good  spirits.  There  must  have  been 
something  peculiarly  appealing  and  winning 
in  this  union  of  heart  and  mind  which  could 
arouse  the  passionate  love  of  Rousseau  and 


i52  The  Salon 

gain  the  untiring  devotion  of  the  cool  and 
fastidious  Saint-Lambert. 

Rousseau  has  immortalised  her.  The 
story  of  his  passion  turned  the  eyes  of 
the  world  upon  her  and  since  that  time 
of  storm  and  stress,  when,  in  the  moon- 
lit night,  beneath  the  delicately  drooping, 
heavily  scented  boughs  of  the  acacia  tree, 
we  dimly  descry  her  and  hear  the  tender 
declarations  fall  trembling  from  the  lips  of 
the  eloquent  philosopher,  the  passing  team- 
ster's rude  cry,  her  laughter,  his  ejaculation 
of  despair,  /'  amitie  and  /'  amour — competing 
sentiments  throughout  the  century — con- 
tending with  one  another,  she  has  held  a 
place  amid  the  remarkable  portraits  of  that 
singular  epoch — the  period  between  1750 
and  the  Revolution. 

Madame  d'  Houdetot's  marriage  was  ar- 
ranged with  a  promptitude  remarkable  even 
for  those  days.  It  contained,  to  begin  with, 
a  tragic  element  of  discord,  for  the  Comte 
d'  Houdetot,  whom  Madame  d'  Epinay — 
though  she  probably  exaggerated  his  weak 
points — describes  as  "a  gambler  by  pro- 


Madame  d'  Epinay  153 

fession,  ugly  as  the  devil  ...  in  a  word, 
unknown,  and  made  to  be  so,"1  had  irre- 
vocably bestowed  his  affection  on  another. 
But,  determined  to  be  happy,  Madame 
d'Houdetot,  who  certainly  was  never  in 
love  with  her  husband,  made  the  best  of 
the  situation  and  by  her  behaviour  won 
his  respect  and  admiration.  He  left  her 
entire  liberty  and  they  were  the  best  of 
friends,  if  nothing  more,  throughout  their 
long  lives. 

The  Salic  law  still  distinguished  between 
the  sexes,  and  a  woman  on  her  marriage 
was  lifted  or  fell  into  her  husband's  position 
in  society.  Madame  d'  Epinay,  for  example, 
by  her  marriage,  descended  from  the  rank 
which  was  hers  by  birth,  and  lost  her  right  to 
social  recognition  at  Court  where,  by  the 
same  law  of  etiquette,  her  sister-in-law 
gained  admittance  and  even  became  a  friend 
of  the  Queen,  Marie  Leczinska. 

The  Countess  was  soon  allied  with  many 
celebrated  people  and  entered  into  that  ex- 

1  Mcmoires  de  Madame  d'  Epinay,  par  Paul  Boiteau.  Paris  : 
Bibliothdque-Charpentier,  t.  i.,  p.  101. 


154  The  Salon 

elusive  company  to  be  found  at  the  house 
of  the  Marechale  de  Beauvau,  whose  salon 
rivalled  that  of  the  Marechale  de  Luxem- 
bourg in  distinction,  and  whose  lovable 
qualities  equalled  the  Countess'  own. 

Madame  Necker's  country  house  at  Saint- 
Ouen  was  near  La  Chevrette,  in  Madame 
d'  Houdetot's  familiar  country.  They  met 
at  Madame  d'fipinay's  theatre,  and  con- 
ceived a  friendship  for  each  other,  in  which 
little  Germaine,  the  future  Madame  de  Stael, 
was  included.  When  Madame  Necker  went 
to  Spa  for  the  waters,  the  Countess 
kept  her  informed  of  the  progress  of  the 
child,  with  whom,  as  soon  as  she  was  old 
enough,  she  began  a  correspondence.  These 
letters,  some  of  which  still  exist,  show 
something  of  the  degree  to  which  Madame 
d'  Houdetot  interested  herself  in  those  she 
loved. 

The  lifelong  attachment  of  Madame 
d'  Houdetot  to  Saint-Lambert  is  one  of  the 
curious  episodes  of  the  time.  Madame  Du 
Deffand  stigmatises  the  work  of  the  poet 
as  cold,  thin,  sterile,  worn  out ;  but  if  cold, 


Madame  d'  Epinay  155 

he  was  polished,  and  if  his  nature  lacked 
depth,  warmth,  and  fertility,  he  was  ele- 
gant, exquisite,  and  delicate  ;  and  Madame 
d' Houdetot  clung  steadfastly  to  a  friend 
who  possessed,  from  this  time  of  his  life,  at 
any  rate,  the  merit  of  constancy.  And  Saint- 
Lambert  had  many  mental  attractions.  To 
the  charm  of  simplicity  he  added  a  keen 
love  of  nature,  which  he  faithfully  studied. 
Both  were  poets.  The  Saisons,  his  cele- 
brated pastoral — celebrated,  at  least,  in  his 
time — struck  the  popular  note.  Madame 
d'  Houdetot's  verses  never  reached  the  gen- 
eral public,  though  she  acquired  such  a 
literary  reputation  in  her  accomplished 
world  that  Marmontel  calls  her  the  "  Sevigne 
de  Sannois." 

A  reputation  in  the  salons  was  not  easily 
obtained  by  a  newcomer  even  with  talents 
and  social  recognition.  Fastidious  Madame 
Du  Deffand,  when  she  first  met  Madame 
d'  Houdetot  and  Madame  Necker,  rather 
scoffingly  alludes  to  the  occasion.  "  1  have 
made  the  acquaintance,"  she  said,  "of  Ma- 
dame Necker,  I  supped  yesterday  with  Mes- 


156  The  Salon 

dames  de  Marchais  and  d'  Houdetot.  I  was 
saying  to  myself  all  the  while  ;  what  busi- 
ness had  I  to  get  myself  into  this  mess  ? 
The  fear  of  being  bored  makes  one  throw 
oneself  into  the  water  for  fear  of  the  rain."1 

But  as  her  visits  to  Madame  Necker  were 
continued,  she  must  have  changed  her  mind, 
and  Madame  d'  Houdetot  found  the  world  as 
a  rule  well  disposed  even  before  she  had  be- 
come celebrated  as  Rousseau's  "Sophie." 
Maria  Edgeworth,  who  met  the  Countess  at 
the  house  of  l'Abbe  Morellet,  tells  us  that  she 
possessed  the  priceless  gift  of  seeing  the  good 
side  of  everything  ;  and  Madame  d'  fipinay, 
in  spite  of  some  jealousy  when  Rousseau's 
passion  for  her  sister-in-law  caused  him  to 
neglect  his  older  friend,  completes  her  Por- 
trait in  these  significant  words  :  "  She  never 
either  spoke  or  believed  ill  of  any  one,  and 
whoever  undertakes  to  criticise  her  will  end 
like  me  by  praising  her." 

Franklin  and  Jefferson  were  frequently 
among  the  guests  at  Sannois,  the  Countess's 

1  Correspondance  complete  de  Madame  Du  Deffand,  ed.  de  M. 
de  Sainte-Aulaire,  t.  ii.,  p.  466. 


Madame  d'  Epinay  157 

country  seat.  On  Franklin's  first  visit  he 
brought  an  acacia  from  Virginia,  and  its 
planting  was  celebrated  as  an  international 
event.  Verses  composed  by  the  hostess 
who,  with  her  husband,  met  him  on  his 
entrance  to  the  village,  were  sung  during 
the  ceremony.  At  the  feast  which  followed, 
each  one  recited  an  improvised  verse  in  the 
American's  honour,  signalling  the  attitude 
of  the  noblesse  toward  Republican  prin- 
ciples, and  at  his  departure  the  Coun- 
tess's farewell  was  phrased  in  the  same 
complimentary  and  poetic  form  : 

Legislateur  d'un  monde,  et  bienfaiteur  des  deux 
L'homme,  dans  tous  les  temps,  te  devra  ses  homages, 

Et  je  m'acquitte  dans  ses  lieux 

De  la  dette  de  tous  les  ages. 

The  reader  may  be  disposed  to  smile  at 
this  somewhat  stagey  scene  and  its  palpable 
effort  after  effect,  but  the  high-sounding 
phrases  were  merely  the  fashion  of  the  day 
and  events  gave  proof  of  their  intrinsic  sincer- 
ity. Without  doubt  the  Countess  manifested 
exceptional  sympathy  with  the  American 
revolutionists,  for  in  1775  she  received  citi- 


158  The  Salon 

zenship  from  the  town  of  New  Haven,  to- 
gether with  her  friends,  Saint-Lambert,  the 
Marechal  de  Beauvau,  Condorcet,  and  other 
eminent  Frenchmen,  distinguished  (the  re- 
port reads)  not  only  by  their  rank,  their 
lights,  and  their  talents,  but  by  their  philan- 
thropy, and  by  their  zeal  for  the  liberty  and 
the  happiness  of  the  United  States  in  gen- 
eral, and  for  the  prosperity  of  New  Haven  in 
particular. 

A  few  words  relating  to  Madame  d'  Hou- 
detot's  old  age  may  not  be  uninteresting. 
Retaining  her  interest  in  people  and  in 
events,  she  passed  unharmed  through  the 
Revolution  and  saw  the  First  Empire  in- 
augurated, an  exemplar,  in  the  new  regime, 
of  the  elegance  of  the  old,  agreeable  society, 
and  of  the  art  of  conversation  as  it  existed 
in  its  best  period.  Madame  de  Remusat 
was  of  a  later  generation,  but  she  used  to 
meet  Madame  d'  Houdetot  at  her  mother's 
house — their  lands  adjoined — -and  she  has 
left  us  some  idea  of  the  warm  regard  which, 
at  this  time  of  her  life,  Madame  d'  Houdetot 
inspired. 


Madame  d'  Epinay  159 

Kindness,  I  will  not  say  goodness,  could  not  be 
carried  farther  than  by  Madame  d'  Houdetot.  Good- 
ness requires  a  sort  of  discernment  of  evil;  it  is  seen 
and  pardoned.  Madame  d'  Houdetot  has  never  ob- 
served ill  in  any  one.  We  have  seen  her  suffer  in  this 
regard,  suffer  really,  when  the  least  fault  was  found 
before  her.  .  .  .  Her  warm  feelings  have  prolonged 
the  period  of  youth.1 

Deprived  by  death  of  her  husband  and  of 
Saint-Lambert,  she  formed  once  more  a  deep 
attachment.  Monsieur  de  Sommariva,  a 
scholarly  Italian,  had  become  her  neighbour 
by  the  purchase  of  La  Chevrette  from  Ma- 
dame d'  Epinay.  He  was  young  enough  to 
be  the  Countess's  son,  but  in  spite  of  years, 
she  succeeded  in  inspiring  a  new  devotion, 
and  daily  attentions  and  gifts  of  flowers 
kept  alive  the  old  romantic  traditions  for 
her  who  typified  throughout  her  long  life 
the  amenities  and  affections.2 

Rousseau's  connection  with  this  lady,  the 
very  crux  of  his  emotional  inner  life,  as  of 
his  fame,  fortune,  and  career,  began  in  the 
spring  of  1 7=>6.     He  had  reached   middle 

1  La  Comtesse  d'  Houdetot,  par  Hippolyte-Buffenoir.  Paris : 
Calmann  Levy,  1901,  p.  77. 

*  Madame  d'  Houdetot  outlived  most  of  her  contemporaries.  Her 
death  occurred  January  28,  1813. 


160  The  Salon 

life,  but  this  was  the  stormiest  episode  of  his 
troubled  existence.  Subdued  by  Madame 
d'  Epinay,  he  was  installed  in  the  ancient 
Hermitage  on  the  borders  of  the  park  of  the 
chateau  de  La  Chevrette,  within  reach  ot 
friends,  but  well  withdrawn  from  the  un- 
endurable din  of  Paris.  Satisfied  with  the 
glory  he  had  achieved,  his  love  of  inde- 
pendence, his  hatred  of  obligation,  for 
a  time  lay  sleeping.  The  freedom  of  the 
country  was  his  to  enjoy  ;  his  sensuous 
love  of  nature  was  gratified.  It  was  April; 
vegetation  was  springing  to  life,  and  the 
symbols  of  spring  were  repeated  in  the  fresh 
colours  of  morning  and  in  the  dewy  even- 
ing ;  existence  was  a  harmony  of  dreamy, 
languid  days,  of  cool  and  quiet  nights. 
Never  since  his  early  life  amid  the  moun- 
tains of  Savoy  had  Jean  Jacques  led  a 
tranquil  life,  and  he  now  revelled  in  a 
luxury  of  solitude,  broken  only  by  those 
whom  he  loved,  for  his  closest  friends  were 
near,  seemingly  anxious  to  devote  them- 
selves to  his  welfare  and  to  shower  upon 
him  the  caresses  which  he  craved. 


JEAN  JACQUES   ROUSSEAU. 
After  u  Drairhiy  by  Miiuzaism 


Madame  d'  Epinay  161 

The  Seven  Years'  War,  which  lost  Canada 
to  France,  entered  upon  because  Frederick 
of  Prussia  had  offended  Madame  de  Pompa- 
dour, had  at  this  time  (1757)  begun.  The 
Comte  d'  Houdetot  and  Saint-Lambert  were 
off  to  the  frontier.  The  Countess  was  estab- 
lished at  Eaubonne ;  here  she  was  near  La 
Chevrette  and  not  so  far  from  Paris  but  that 
she  could  also  mingle  in  the  diversions  of  the 
Court.  One  morning  she  bethought  her- 
self of  Rousseau,  now  her  neighbour.  She 
had  met  him  on  the  eve  of  her  marriage; 
he  had  become  more  famous  with  the  pas- 
sage of  time,  and  she  determined  to  pay  him 
a  visit.  By  some  freak — perhaps  in  thought 
of  his  eccentricities — dressed  in  man's  garb, 
she  arrived  at  his  door  on  horseback,  laugh- 
ing, excited  by  the  dangers  of  the  bad  roads 
she  had  passed  over.  Taken  completely 
unawares  by  this  animated,  high-spirited 
Diana,  Rousseau  fell  in  love  at  first  sight. 
For  the  next  few  quickly  flying  weeks  their 
intercourse  was  daily;  its  pretended  motive, 
conversations  on  subjects  with  which,  in- 
deed, Rousseau's  brain  and  heart  were  filled 


1 62  The  Salon 

— the  converting  of  society,  the  uplifting  of 
humanity,  its  return  to  simplicity,  to  truth, 
to  nature. 

The  sequel  to  these  sentimental  meetings, 
to  the  congenial  intellectual  companionship, 
and  to  the  adoration  which  the  charming 
Countess  inspired,  was  the  inception  of  Julie, 
the  great  romance  which  crowned  Rous- 
seau's fame.  Madame  d'  Houdetot,  trans- 
figured in  his  imagination,  is  his  heroine.  But 
his  poor  servant,  the  foolish  Theresa,  jealous 
of  these  frequent  interviews,  carried  reports 
of  the  sudden  intimacy  to  Madame  d'  Epinay, 
who,  as  well  as  Theresa — so  the  Memoir es 
pretend — was  accused  of  writing  an  anony- 
mous letter  which  Saint-Lambert  was  said  to 
have  received,  setting  forth  the  conduct  of 
Rousseau  and  of  Madame  d'  Houdetot  in 
an  unfavourable  light. 

Diderot — according  to  his  friends — anxious 
to  put  an  end  to  the  coolness  which  had 
naturally  sprung  up  between  Rousseau  and 
Saint-Lambert,  only  sought,  though  with 
overmuch  zeal,  to  advise  Rousseau  as  to  the 
course  he  should  pursue.  But  Diderot's  good 


Madame  d'  Epinay  163 

faith  in  all  that  relates  to  Rousseau  has  been 
brought  into  question  and,  were  his  mo- 
tives as  honourable  as  he  professed,  his  was 
an  unfortunate  method  to  pursue  with  the 
erratic  and  self-willed  philosopher,  so  jealous 
of  his  liberty  of  action.  The  peculiar  tem- 
perament with  which  he  had  to  deal,  the 
extreme  sensitiveness,  the  perhaps  unreason- 
able pride,  the  timidity  born  of  fear  lest 
it  should  be  impossible  to  keep  body 
and  soul  together,  should  have  been  taken 
into  account.  Hard  experience  had  left 
Rousseau  mistrustful,  reserved,  and  with 
a  hatred  of  authority,  while  deep  seated 
in  his  nature  lay  an  over-powering  self- 
consciousness  which,  after  the  discovery 
that  his  friends  had  once  betrayed  him, 
made  him  suspicious  of  every  human  being. 
Both  Diderot  and  Grimm  proclaimed  that  his 
warm  affections,  added  to  their  admiration 
for  his  genius,  alone  retained  those  whom 
his  variable  humours  and  vagaries  must 
long  since  have  chased  from  him ;  Dide- 
rot even  complained  that  straightforward 
methods  were  not  to  the  taste  of  the  hermit 


1 64  The  Salon 

philosopher  who,  on  the  other  hand,  pub- 
licly accused  Diderot  of  publishing  broad- 
cast his  most  private  concerns  and  of  abusing 
his  most  sacred  feelings.  And  further  com- 
plications arose.  Diderot  sending  his  latest 
play  to  the  Hermitage  for  criticism,  Rous- 
seau saw  in  the  preface  an  allusion  to  him- 
self which  he  considered  offensive.  With 
great  difficulty  Madame  d'Epinay  succeeded 
in  calming  his  resentment  and  a  rupture, 
for  the  time,  was  avoided. 

But  disunion  in  such  a  group,  once  begun, 
was  certain  to  continue.  The  departure  of 
Madame  d'Epinay,  in  1757,  for  Geneva,  in 
search  of  health,  was  the  occasion  of  a  fur- 
ther weakening  of  the  bonds  which  had 
for  so  long  and  so  productive  a  period 
bound  together  these  famous  persons  in 
comradeship. 

Rousseau  had  not  long  before  talked  of 
returning  to  his  birthplace,  and  would  un- 
doubtedly have  done  so  had  not  Madame 
d'  fipinay  by  her  act  of  hospitality  kept 
the  author  of  Julie  and  Entile  in  France 
and  thus   added  to  the    glory   of  French 


Madame  d'  Epinay  165 

letters.1  He  was  now  asked  to  accompany 
her,  and  it  was  pointed  out  to  him  that 
gratitude  toward  his  benefactress  made  ac- 
quiescence a  duty. 

But  Rousseau  did  not  see  his  duty  in  the 
same  light  as  did  these  advisers.  Out  of 
health  himself,  he  considered  that  he  was 
the  last  person  in  the  world  fit  to  look  after 
another  invalid.  Whereupon  the  friends 
called  him  a  monster  of  ingratitude.  The 
affair  reached  its  climax  when  Rousseau 
published  La  Lettre  a  d?  Alembert  contre 
les  Spectacles,  which,  as  it  attacked  the 
stage,  was  considered  an  open  declaration 
of  war  against  the  encyclopedistes,  who 
advocated  theatrical  representations.  Of 
this  publication  Madame  d'  Epinay,  now  in 
Switzerland,  harassed  in  body  and  mind, 
learned  with  pain,  realising  that  all  hope  of 
reconciliation  was  at  an  end.  She  never  saw 
Rousseau  again. 

So,  too,  he  passed  out  of  Madame  d'Hou- 
detot's  life,  though  they  preserved  affection- 

1  Though  Rousseau  was  born  in  Geneva,  he  was  of  pure  French 
extraction. 


1 66  The  Salon 

ate  recollections  of  one  another,  and  both 
she  and  Saint- Lambert  afterward  offered 
him  a  home  and  always  defended  him  in 
the  unhappy  course  of  his  life  which  fol- 
lowed. At  Sannois,  on  a  pedestal  designed 
expressly  for  them,  could  be  seen  the  two 
volumes  of  La  Nouvelle  Helo'ise  which  Rous- 
seau copied  in  his  own  hand  for  Madame 
d'Houdetot,  and  his  four  famous  letters  on 
Virtue  and  Happiness  are  addressed  to  her, 
who  evoked  an  ideal  type,  a  model  of 
the  homely  virtues.  Their  relations  with 
Rousseau  would,  alone,  make  Madame 
d'  Houdetot  and  Madame  d'  Epinay  forever 
interesting  and,  at  a  later  period,  the  story 
of  their  friendship  and  its  stormy  conclusion 
was  revived  by  his  Confessions  and  by  her 
scarcely  less  realistic  Memoires. 

VI 

It  is  to  be  noted  that  the  intellectual 
Frenchwomen  of  the  eighteenth  century 
thought  much  and  wrote  much  and  well  on 
the  subject  of  education.  They  felt  keenly 
the  want  of  a  guiding  principle,  the  need  of 


Madame  d'  fepinay  167 

a  more  substantial  foundation  than  was  to 
be  found  in  the  prevailing  system;  an 
education  that  would  achieve  something 
more  than  agreeable  manners,  something 
beside  Latin  verse,  even  beyond  Greek 
philosophy — a  training  which  would  lead 
to  growth  of  character.  Madame  d'  Epinay 
perceived  the  difference  between  education 
and  instruction,  and  declared  that  the  pub- 
lic school  could  not  take  the  place  of  the 
family. 

Madame  Du  Deffand  never  ceased  to  de- 
cry the  education  of  the  times,  to  which 
she  ascribed  all  the  misfortunes  and  evils  of 
her  life.  Madame  d'  fipinay,  the  mother  of 
two  children,  and  devoted  to  their  welfare, 
had  even  more  reason  to  consider  this  ques- 
tion important.  With  the  birth  of  children 
had  come  differences  with  her  family  be- 
cause of  the  wish  to  keep  them  with  her, 
and  she  found  it  well-nigh  impossible  to 
over-ride  the  fashion  which  made  it  almost 
obligatory  to  rear  children  away  from  home. 

In  the  meantime  her  mind  was  develop- 
ing, and  her  own  education — for  she  was 


1 68  The  Salon 

still  young — which  was  to  fit  her  for  the 
leadership  of  a  salon,  was  in  progress.  No 
woman  of  ordinary  endowment  or  attain- 
ments could  hope  to  occupy  such  a  position 
in  French  society.  She  who  aspired  to  a 
salon  needed  not  only  an  educated  but  a 
trained  and  critical  faculty.  She  must  be 
able,  not  only  to  talk  herself,  but  to  open 
the  lips,  as  well  as  the  minds,  of  others. 
And  no  person,  no  matter  how  distin- 
guished, was  expected  to  enter  the  house 
of  a  bel  esprit  unless  he  added  to  the  gen- 
eral entertainment ;  even  a  prince,  if  he 
could  not  shine  himself,  must  do  his  part  by 
providing  a  substitute.1 

In  1754  we  first  gather  that  Madame 
d'  Epinay  began  to  write  on  the  sub- 
ject that  most  appealed  to  her;  but  it 
is  in  her  letters  to  her  children  that  her 
interest  in  education  rises  to  enthusiasm 
and  they  are  the  beginnings  of  her  educa- 
tional works.  The  first  letters  which  were 
composed  for  her  son's  edification  were 
beyond  any  child's  comprehension;  fortu- 

1  Mcmoires  de  Madame  d'  Epinay,  t.  i.,  p.  381. 


Madame  d'  Epinay  169 

nately,  however,  for  the  little  boy,  Rousseau, 
whose  advice  on  the  matter  was  solicited, 
came  to  his  rescue  and  the  correspondence 
was  placed  more  on  a  level  with  a  child's 
intelligence. 

"You  have  asked  my  advice  in  writing,  Madame, 
here  it  is.  .  .  .  I  think  that  the  idea  of  writing  him 
is  a  very  happy  one  and  may  have  a  good  influence; 
but  two  conditions  are  necessary — they  are  that  he  is 
able  to  understand  you  and  that  he  is  able  to  reply. 
These  letters  should  be  written  for  him  alone,  and  the 
two  that  you  have  sent  me  would  be  good  for  all  the 
world  except  for  him.  ...  Of  what  use  is  it,  for  ex- 
ample, to  instruct  him  concerning  your  duties  as  a 
mother?  Why  cry  in  his  ear  the  words  submission, 
duties,  vigilance,  right  ?  All  that  has  a  frightful  sound 
at  his  age.  .  .  .  Your  definition  of  politeness  is  just  and 
delicate,  but  it  is  necessary  to  think  twice  to  appreciate 
it.  Does  he  know  what  you  mean  by  esteem,  by 
benevolence  ?  Is  he  in  a  state  to  distinguish  the  vol- 
untary or  involuntary  expression  of  a  sensible  heart  ?"  * 

In  Madame  d'Epinay's  description  of  the 
visit  which  she  paid  with  Duclos  to  her  son 
and  his  tutor  at  the  College  du  Plessis  the 
faults  of  the  system  in  vogue  are  unmerci- 
fully exposed.  They  find  the  tutor,  whom 
they  interviewed  on  his  method  of  pedagogy, 

1  Mc"  moires  de  Madame  d1  Epinay,  t.  ii.,  p.  23. 


i/o  The  Salon 

taking  his  ease,  stretched  at  full  length 
on  a  couch,  wig  off,  in  dressing-gown;  while 
the  child  is  seated  at  a  table  making  aimless 
marks  with  a  pencil,  unable  to  grasp  the 
difficult  Latin  task  set  before  him. 

In  June,  1757,  we  find  Madame  d'Epinay 
established  in  her  favourite  country  house, 
the  chateau  de  La  Chevrette.  Her  mother, 
her  children,  the  Comtesse  d'Houdetot,  and 
Saint-Lambert  were  with  her;  Grimm,  who 
had  now  taken  Francueil's  place,  was  a  fre- 
quent visitor;  she  was  surrounded  by  all 
those  whom  she  loved. 

Her  life  at  this  period  had  taken,  in  a 
measure,  the  form  which  it  retained  to  its 
end.  Her  days  at  the  chateau,  where  the 
most  of  her  time  was  passed,  were  seldom 
wanting  in  the  company  ot  some  of  the  bril- 
liant coterie  whom,  aided  by  Francueil  and 
Grimm,  she  had  gathered  around  her.  In- 
termingled work  and  play,  the  joy  of  toil, 
the  happiness  of  intellectual  labour  and 
achievement,  was  their  task  and  their  plea- 
sure. Rousseau,  comfortably  installed  at  the 
Hermitage,  was  her  constant  companion  and 


Madame  d'  Epinay  171 

teacher.  Generous,  inexacting,  forgiving, 
even  the  wilful,  liberty-loving  philosopher 
could  receive  her  benefits  and  suffer  her 
gentle  control.  D'Holbach  had  turned  from 
disparagement  to  praise.  Diderot,  alone,  of 
those  she  would  have  liked  to  count  among 
her  friends,  in  spite  of  Grimm's  efforts,  still 
held  aloof. 

But  now,  when  she  had  adjusted  her  life  as 
she  thought  she  best  could  to  its  conditions 
and  when  a  measure  of  tranquillity  seemed 
to  be  established,  her  health,  which  had  been 
continually  failing,  gave  way,  and  it  was  de- 
cided that  she  must  go  to  Geneva  to  be  under 
the  care  of  the  eminent  surgeon  Tronchin. 
It  was  at  this  time  also  that  Rousseau,  of 
whom,  in  his  fever  for  the  society  of  Madame 
d'Houdetot,  she  had  lately  seen  little, 
harassed  past  endurance,  both  by  his  so- 
called  friends  and  his  conscience,  turned, 
as  has  been  related,  from  her  and  from  all 
the  late  harmonious  circle,  and  the  ties 
formed  by  years  of  helpful  intercourse  were 
quickly  sundered. 

But  though   Madame   d'Epinay  lost    an 


172  The  Salon 

illustrious  friend  in  Rousseau,  she  presently 
gained  another  in  Voltaire.  Accompanied 
by  her  husband  and  son  the  interesting  in- 
valid arrived  in  Geneva  early  in  November, 
1757,  with  a  European  reputation.  She  was 
received  with  every  mark  of  attention  by 
Rousseau's  countrymen  and  by  Voltaire 
who,  though  no  longer  young,  was  still  in- 
spired to  write  verses  to  the  "grands  yeux 
noirs"  of  the  charming  exile.  At  the  time  of 
her  arrival,  Voltaire,  now  at  the  height  of  his 
fame,  had  not  yet  bought  Ferney,  but  in- 
habited Les  Delices,  a  charming  country 
house  near  the  city,  cared  for  and  idolised  by 
the  absurd  and  good-natured  Madame  Denis, 
the  niece  whom  "he  cherished,  mocked, 
and  revered."  1 

Voltaire  was  indeed  overjoyed  to  have  the 
celebrated  Frenchwoman  in  his  neighbour- 
hood, but  Madame  d'Epinay,  whom  the 
hardships  of  the  journey  had  brought  very 
near  death,  and  who  had  received  the  sacra- 
ments, was  reluctant  to  fraternise  so  soon 
with  the  arch-enemy  of  the  Church,  and  de- 

1  Memoires  de  Madame  d'Epinay,  t.  ii.,  p  421. 


1 


BARON    D'HOLBACH. 
From,,  I'ortruithi  th.   .Vn*V  Condi:  Chnntilly. 


Madame  d'  Epinay  173 

clined  his  first  advances.  ' '  Having  confessed 
and  received  communion  two  days  before, 
I  did  not  find  it  seemly  to  dine  with  Vol- 
taire two  days  afterward,"  she  wrote.  But 
Voltaire,  who  never  did  anything  by  halves, 
was  not  to  be  denied.  He  became  more  and 
more  assiduous  in  his  attentions,  and  show- 
ered notes  and  invitations  upon  "  la  veritable 
philosophe  des  fetnmes"  as  he  called  her, 
and  if  he  were  attracted  by  her  mind  he  ad- 
mired also  the  amiability  which  her  suffer- 
ings could  not  destroy,  and  her  soft,  dark 
eyes  still  had  power  to  cast  a  spell  over  a 
philosopher.  When,  the  winter  coming  on, 
Voltaire  removed  to  Lausanne,  he  missed  her 
so  much  that  he  felt  obliged  to  write  fre- 
quently. "We  are  filled  with  regret  to  have 
left  her  and  with  remorse  not  to  have  gone  to 
Geneva  ;  we  ask  her  forgiveness.  We  could 
wish  three  or  four  years  of  languor  for  the 
true  philosopher  that  she  might  have  need  of 
four  years  of  the  great  Tronchin.  ...  Ah! 
if  she  could  come  to  Lausanne! "  He  did  not 
cease  to  press  herto  visit  him,  his  zeal  perhaps 
the  keener  in  his  hope  also  to  secure  Tron- 


174  The  Salon 

chin,  for  whom  he  had  a  great  admiration 
and  who  was  difficult  of  persuasion.  Ma- 
dame d'  Epinay's  esteem  for  her  physician 
increased  daily.  Voltaire  she  called  her 
nourisson,  but  Tronchin  was  her  sauveur, 
and  she  marked  her  gratitude  by  having  her 
portrait  painted  for  him  by  the  celebrated 
Liotard.1 

Although  he  had  no  theatre  at  Lausanne 
such  as  Ferney  afterward  boasted,  Voltaire, 
in  order  to  produce  his  plays,  had  a  stage 
fitted  up  wherever  he  might  be.  His  guests 
and  his  friends  were  drawn  in  as  actors,  and 
he  also  obtained  professionals  from  Paris. 
He  therefore,  in  his  efforts  to  obtain  her 
company,  brought  forward  his  theatre  as 
the  first  inducement  he  had  to  offer,  but, 
still  unsuccessful,  he  tried  other  expedients, 
and  finally  accused  her  of  deserting  him  for 
the  orthodox  party,  who  had  pronounced 
against  his  defence  of  Lord  Bolingbroke,  an 
accusation  which  at  last  brought  her  and 
Tronchin  to  reassure  him. 

1  This  portrait  is  in  the  museum  at  Geneva,  and  a  copy,  done  at 
the  same  time,  is  at  Versailles. 


Madame  d'  Epinay  175 

But,  though  Madame  d'Epinay  was  grati- 
fied by  so  many  proofs  of  regard  from  Vol- 
taire and  by  the  manifold  attentions  shown 
her  in  Geneva,  she  was  homesick,  andGrimm, 
at  work  with  Diderot  revising  the  first  vo- 
lumes of  the  Encyclopedie,  continued  to  defer 
his  promised  visit  till  a  crisis  in  her  health 
at  last  brought  him  in  the  spring  of  1759. 
She  became,  however,  so  much  better  during 
the  summer  that  she  was  able  to  return  to 
Paris  in  the  autumn  with  him  and  her  brother- 
in-law,  Monsieur  de  Jully,  who  was  also 
leaving  Switzerland,  disappointed  in  his 
diplomatic  mission  for  Madame  de  Pompa- 
dour,1 who  had  been  scheming  to  obtain 
the  sovereignty  of  Neufchatel. 

VII 

This  year  marks  an  important  point  in  the 
life  and  career  of  Madame  d'Epinay.  She 
was  yet  only  thirty-three,  but  she  had 
learnt  much.  Her  long  absence  offered 
opportunity  for  any  changes  she  might  wish 
to  make  in  her  mode  of  life,  and,  taught  by 

Madame  de  Pompadour  was  related  to  the  d'Epinay  family. 


176  The  Salon 

experience,  she  was  long  in  forming  her  new 
salon,  for  which  her  delicate  health  was  an 
excellent  excuse.  Voltaire's  attentions  had 
added  to  the  reputation  which  she  had  al- 
ready achieved  and  now,  too,  her  wish  that 
Diderot  should  become  her  friend  was  at 
last  gratified  and  his  friendship,  if  slow  in 
making,  was  deep  and  lasting.  Not  long 
afterward  he  significantly  wrote  from  La 
Chevrette:  "  The  day  after  to-morrow  I  am 
established  at  Grandval  for  six  weeks; 
Madame  d'Epinay  is  a  little  heavy-hearted 
on  account  of  it,  I  also;  we  understand  each 
other  without  saying  a  word;  we  blame; 
we  praise;  out  of  the  corner  of  the  eye." 

The  interior  of  the  chateau  de  La  Chev- 
rette was  not  less  splendid  than  the  outside. 
It  contained  a  chapel  where  the  good  abbe 
Martin  officiated,  as  well  as  the  theatre 
where  Francueil  had  assembled  his  famous 
company.  Diderot  has  left  a  vivid  picture 
of  the  salon  and  its  occupants,  sketched  at 
the  time  of  Madame  d'Epinay's  return. 

We  were  then  in  that  gloomy  and  magnificent 
salon,  and  we  made,  diversely  occupied,  a  very  agree- 


Madame  d'  Epinay  177 

abl(3  picture.  Toward  the  window  which  opens  upon 
the  gardens,  M.  Grimm  was  being  painted,  while  Ma- 
dame d'  Epinay  leaned  upon  the  back  of  the  chair  of 
the  person  who  was  painting  him.  A  draughtsman 
farther  away  was  drawing  his  profile  in  crayon.  .  .  . 
M.  de  Saint- Lambert  was  reading  in  a  corner  the 
last  brochure  that  I  sent  you.  I  was  playing  chess 
with  Madame  d'  Houdetot.  The  old  and  good  Ma- 
dame d'  Esclavelles,  mother  of  Madame  d'Epinay,  had 
all  the  little  ones  around  her  and  was  talking  with 
them  and  with  their  tutor.  Two  sisters  of  the  person 
who  was  painting  my  friend  were  embroidering,  one 
held  her  ink  by  hand,  and  the  other  used  a  frame.  And 
a  third  was  trying  a  piece  of  Scarlatti  on  the  clavecin.' 

On  terms  of  intimacy  with  Diderot  and 
the  d'Holbachs,  under  the  intellectual  influ- 
ence of  Voltaire,  dominated  by  the  forceful 
personality  of  Grimm,  Madame  d'  Epinay 
was  now  fully  identified  with  the  philo- 
sophical party,  and  her  salon  increased  in 
numbers  and  importance  until  it  included 
not  only  the  encyclopedistes  but  the  foreign 
group,  and  became  the  political  centre  of 
the  philosophical  movement.  For  not  only 
the  circle  which  surrounded  Madame 
d'Epinay  was  altered  and  enlarged,  but 
society  in  general   had  lately  undergone  a 

1  Diderot  to  Mademoiselle  Volland,  Sept.  1  5,  1760. 


178  The  Salon 

change,  of  which  she  was  an  example.  Her 
early  life,  as  was  common  to  the  early  reign 
of  Louis  XV.,  had  been  given  to  pleasure,  but 
now,  like  her  own  inclinations,  the  national 
life  had  grown  serious;  grave  thoughts 
filled  all  minds  and  anxious  questions  re- 
garding the  welfare  of  society  at  large  were 
the  singular  topics  on  the  lips  of  every  pretty 
woman,  mingled  with  arguments  on  the 
rival  merits  of  Gluck  or  Piccinni;  everywhere 
the  ideas  of  the  philosophers  had  spread  and 
were  gaining  ground.  Diderot,  the  centre  ot 
this  movement,  was  now  closely  associated 
with  Madame  d'  Epinay. 

The  beauty  of  moderation  in  this  epoch  of 
agitation,  contradiction,  struggle,  and  aspira- 
tion was  unknown  to  Diderot,  and  his  in- 
tense nature  found  vent  in  his  transports  of 
enthusiasm,  in  his  outbursts  of  rage,  in  his 
love,  devotion,  prejudices,  in  labour,  in  the 
extraordinary  vividness  of  his  imagination. 
The  grace  of  moderation  lies  in  its  absolute 
justice  and  integrity ;  the  enthusiast  is  seldom 
controlled  by  reason,  he  is  often  carried  to 
excess    by    his    ardent    feeling.      Diderot, 


Madame  d'  Epinay  179 

swayed  by  his  keen  emotions,  was  never 
complete  master  of  himself;  he  did  not 
rightly  calculate  the  effect  of  his  writing  and, 
had  he  lived,  would  have  been  as  indignant 
and  horror-stricken  as  Burke  at  the  excesses 
of  the  Revolution.  And  his  friendship,  like 
his  tormer  prejudice,  for  Madame  d 'Epinay 
partook  of  this  same  character  and  he  who 
had  determined  to  avoid  her  became  her 
strongest  partisan.  His  Salons,  the  most 
charming  of  all  his  works,  had  their  source  at 
La  Chevrette.  He  had  promised  Grimm  to 
write  something  on  the  pictures  which  hung 
in  the  salon,  and  he  had  scarcely  returned 
to  Paris  when  he  received  a  short  note  from 
him  requesting  it  immediately.  Surprised 
and  hurt  by  the  somewhat  peremptory  de- 
mand he  wrote  day  and  night,  and  Grimm, 
"stupefied  with  admiration,"  soon  received 
a  volume  in  place  of  the  few  lines  expected. 
From  this  beginning  the  essays  developed 
which  exercised  a  marked  influence  on  the 
aesthetic  taste  of  his  contemporaries,  by 
pointing  out  the  grace  and  charm  of  Boucher, 
Fragonard,  and  Chardin;  tor  French  artists 


180  The  Salon 

had  then  but  few  admirers  among  the  Paris- 
ian amateurs,  who  saw  little  beauty  in  any 
work  but  that  of  the  Flemish,  Dutch,  and 
Italian  schools.  Monsieur  de  Jully,  a  lover  of 
the  arts,  and  already  a  collector,  profited  by 
Diderot's  eloquent  pages,  and  was  the  first, 
after  Madame  Geoffrin,  to  give  practical  en- 
couragement to  French  painting.  In  1 764  he 
brought  out  his  Catalogue  Historique  du 
Cabinet  de  Peintures  et  de  Sculpture  Fran- 
faise,  after  the  manner  of  Horace  Walpole's 
Strawberry  Hill  production;  it  is  ornamented 
with  two  fine  engravings  by  himself,  and  is 
an  even  more  curious  and  interesting  work 
than  Walpole's  catalogue. 

Madame  d'Epinay's  circle  now  included 
the  Marquis  de  Croismare,  the  "charming 
marquis";  Saurin,  the  poet,  who  was  no 
sooner  introduced  than  he  straightway  fell 
in  love;  his  patron  the  rich  and  clever  Hel- 
vetius,  "  qui  a  dit  le  secret  de  tout  le  monde" 
Madame  Du  Deffand  observed;  the  agreeable 
but  melancholy  Suard,  director  of  the  Gazette 
Litteraire,  embarrassingly  enamoured  of  the 
beautiful  Baronne  d'Holbach  as  well  as  of  his 


THE   BARONESS   D'HOLBACH. 
After  a  Paintiny  by  Varin. 


Madame  d'  Epinay 


181 


hostess;  P  abbe  Raynal,  the  originator  of 
the  Corr-espondance  Litteraire,  which  Grimm 
now  directed;  Galiani,  the  gentil  abbe;  and 
Gatti,  the  celebrated  Florentine  physician, 
introduced  by  Galiani.  All  of  these  shared  her 
pleasure  in  her  correspondence  with  Voltaire, 
and  as  eagerly  awaited  his  letters,  for  the 
friendship  begun  at  Geneva  was  continued 
by  a  regular  correspondence.  Absence 
had  not  diminished  Voltaire's  admiration. 
''Adieu,  my  beautiful  philosopher,"  he  ends 
a  letter,  "you  are  adored  at  Delices,  you  are 
adored  at  Paris;  you  are  adored  present  and 
absent.  Our  homage  to  all  those  who  be- 
long to  you,  to  all  those  who  surround  you." 
The  passion  for  theatrical  representation 
had  now  reached  its  highest  point,  and  per- 
formances at  private  houses  vied  with  the 
Theatre  Francais  and  the  Opera  Comique. 
Voltaire  had  decided  to  have  Tancrede  acted 
in  Paris,  and  Madame  d'Epinay  and  her 
friends  were  in  a  state  of  excitement  and  ex- 
pectation. All  Paris  was  present  at  the  per- 
formance, but  they,  who  were  naturally 
privileged,    had    places    together,    and  its 


1 82  The  Salon 

tremendous  ovation  was  afterward  discussed 
at  the  supper  which  followed  at  Madame 
d'Epinay's. 

The  next  winter  Diderot  produced  LePere 
de  Famille,  at  the  Theatre  Francais.  This 
work  ranked  with  Tancrede,  and  its  appear- 
ance was  a  great  event.  The  detestation  and 
fear  of  the  Court  for  Diderot  and  his  teachings 
was  the  topic  of  the  day,  and  the  advent 
of  the  piece  was  awaited  with  impatience. 
Tragedies  in  verse  being  the  received  form  of 
plays,  and  their  heroes,  as  a  matter  of  course, 
kings  and  princes,  the  Pere  de  Famille,  writ- 
ten in  prose,  its  characters  belonging  to  the 
bourgeoisie,  which  aimed  at  homeliness, 
broke  with  all  traditions;  it  was  as  much  a 
point  of  departure  for  the  modern  drama  as 
was  the  Castle  of  Otranto  for  English  ro- 
mance. Diderot's  friends,  aware  of  the 
formidable  cabal  raised  against  it,  were 
apprehensive,  but  the  sympathy  of  the 
audience  was  gained  from  the  first.  Diderot 
was  too  nervous  to  witness  the  first  per- 
formances, but  the  third  night  he  attended 
with  Madame  d'Epinay,  and  a  joyous  sup- 


Madame  d'  Epinay  183 

per  followed  at  her  house,  as  after  Tancrede, 
and  congratulations,  compliments,  critic- 
ism on  the  staging  and  the  acting,  and 
hopes  and  plans  for  future  triumphs  ended 
the  evening. 

But  all  the  while  Madame  d'  Epinay's  do- 
mestic anxieties  were  steadily  increasing. 
The  wildly  extravagant  life  of  Monsieur 
d'  Epinay  had  made  such  inroads  in  their 
income  that  they  were  obliged  to  leave  La 
Chevrette  for  their  smaller  property  of  La 
Briche,  which  soon,  also,  had  to  be  given  up. 
The  town  house  was  gone,  and  necessity 
drove  her  from  one  quarter  of  Paris  to  an- 
other. Destitution  stared  her  in  the  face. 
And  beside  the  ills  of  poverty  she  was  forced 
to  suffer  a  greater  misfortune  ;  disappoint- 
ment in  her  son  came  to  crown  her  sorrows, 
for  in  spite  of  her  careful  education,  he  de- 
veloped more  and  more  the  unfortunate  pre- 
dilections of  his  father.  The  means  taken  to 
protect  themselves  against  his  prodigality 
seems  curious  to  us,  but  it  is  an  excellent 
illustration  of  the  unlimited  control  which 
parents   had  over  their  children  before  the 


184  The  Salon 

Revolution.  Utterly  unable  to  restrain  him 
in  his  downward  career,  or  to  pay  his  debts, 
a  lettre  de  cachet  was  asked  for  and  obtained 
under  which  he  was  imprisoned  ;  liberated 
in  two  years'time,  he  again  contracted  debts, 
when  his  parents  protected  themselves  by 
depriving  him  of  his  civil  rights  ;  finally  he 
was  exiled  from  France.  Madame  d'  Epi- 
nay  was  more  fortunate  in  her  daughter  who, 
brought  up  in  the  faith  of  her  pious  grand- 
mother, clung  to  her  belief  throughout 
that  period  when  the  most  religious  were 
scarcely  deists.  At  fifteen  she  was  happily 
married  to  the  Vicomte  de  Belzunce  and  her 
mother  rejoiced  that  the  douce  vicomtesse 
should  be  comfortably  established  and  out 
of  reach  of  her  father. 

As  worldly  prosperity  declined,  the  repu- 
tation of  Madame  d'  Epinay  became  more 
wide-spread  and  attained  its  greatest  celeb- 
rity. Any  evening  might  be  seen  in  her 
salon  the  Comte  de  Fuentes,  Spanish  Ambas- 
sador, and  his  sons,  Prince  Pignatelli  and  the 
Marquis  de  Mora,  the  latter  celebrated  for 
his  connection  with  Julie  de  Lespinasse — all 


Madame  d'  Epinay  185 

three  friends  of  Galiani ;  the  Marquis  Carac- 
cioli,  also  intimate  with  Galiani ;  the  Baron 
de  Gleichen  of  Denmark,  one  of  Madame  Du 
Deffand's  circle,  and  desperately  in  love 
with  her  friend,  the  charming  Duchesse  de 
Choiseul ;  and  the  Comte  de  Creutz,  after- 
ward first  minister  to  Gustavus  III.  Lord 
Stormont,  the  English  Ambassador,  did  not 
arrive  in  Paris  until  after  Galiani's  recall, 
but  he  had  so  high  an  opinion  of  him  that 
when  discussion  grew  high  he  would  invari- 
ably suggest  that  Galiani  should  be  chosen 
asjudge.  In  1767,  Rousseau,  half  distracted, 
embroiled  with  Hume,  returned  from  his  un- 
happy visit  to  England  and  appeared  again 
in  Paris  ;  the  reading  from  the  Confessions 
which  followed  was  far  from  agreeable  either 
to  Madame  d'  Epinay  or  to  Grimm  and  she 
succeeded  in  having  it  interdicted  as  libel. 

In  the  opening  summer  of  1769,  abbe  Gali- 
ani, his  recall  demanded  by  the  Due  de  Choi- 
seul, left  Paris.  It  was  a  great  deprivation 
to  Madame  d'  Epinay  and  her  salon,  to  all 
of  whom  he  was  the  cher  abbe  while  for  him 
it  was  an  intellectual  exile  which  he  never 


1S6  The  Salon 

ceased  to  bewail.  "lam  always  inconsol- 
able to  have  left  Paris,"  he  wrote  ;"  it  does 
not  concern  my  pleasure  only,  it  concerns 
my  life  ;  I  feel  and  I  prove  every  day  more 
that  it  is  physically  impossible  for  me  to  live 
outside  Paris.  Mourn  me  for  dead  if  I  do 
not  return."  1 

By  long  and  intimate  letters  the  two  friends 
attempted  to  bridge  over  the  separating  dis- 
tance, and  their  correspondence,  which  lasted 
till  her  death,  was  henceforth  a  great  resource 
to  him  and  helpful  to  her,  for,  beside  the 
power  of  eloquence,  he  possessed  that  more 
human  force,  the  gift  of  sympathy;  and 
though  his  letters  lack  something  of  the  gai- 
ety which  Paris  and  congenial  companions 
had  inspired,  they,  like  his  conversation, 
are  intuitive,  spontaneous,  and  full  ot 
wit  humour,  and  imagination.  Madame 
d'Epinay  admired  his  mind,  appreciated  his 
kind  heart,  and  enjoyed  his  good  spirits. 
From  the  beginning  of  their  friendship  she 
wished  the  public  to  have  the  benefit  of  his 
ideas,  and  urged  him  to  publish  them. 

1  Lettresde  V Abbe  Galiani  a  Madame  d'  Epinay,  t.  i.,  p.  7. 


Madame  d'  Epinay  187 

He  depended  much  on  her  judgment 
and  practical  help.  "I  wish,"  he  wrote, 
in  1765,  "to  retouch  the  style  and  the 
scenes.  .  .  .  Ennoble  the  role  of  the  con- 
sul, make  the  valet  funny,  the  precieuse 
ridiculous;  that  is  what  I  ask  of  you.  Some 
scenes  should  be  lengthened.  Ifyoudonot 
wish  to  take  so  much  trouble,  at  least  mark 
the  faults  of  language,  the  vulgarities  of 
style,  and  that  which  shocks  you  most."1 

Here  we  find  how  much  the  abbe  valued 
her  power  of  criticism,  and  he  naturally 
looked  to  her  for  assistance  in  that  time  of 
trial  when  his  hurried  leave  prevented  him 
from  bringing  out  the  Dialogues  sur  les  Bles. 
The  celebrated  work  which  was  to  drawdown 
such  violent  invective  was  barely  completed, 
and  Galiani  entrusted  it  to  Diderot  and 
Madame  d'Epinay  to  revise — a  labour  by 
which  the  book  was  much  the  gainer — and 
to  see  it  through  the  press,  no  light  task  in 
face  of  the  declared  enmity  of  the  Due  de 
Choiseul.  Grimm,  invited  to  Germany  about 
the  same  time,  also  left  with  them  the  con- 

^Lcttres  de  I' Abbe  Galiani  a  Madame  d'Epinay,  t.  i.,  p.  2. 


1 88  The  Salon 

tinuance  of  the  Correspondance  Litter  aire. 
It  was  not  the  first  time  that  Madame 
d'Epinay  had  helped  Grimm  in  this  undertak- 
ing. Their  collaboration  had  its  beginning 
in  discussions  as  to  material,  for  these  private 
and  personal  letters  which  were  sent  every 
fortnight  during  a  period  of  thirty-seven  years 
to  the  different  courtsof  Europe,  heldthe  place 
of  the  literary,  artistic,  and  societyjournals  of 
to-day;  criticism,  for  which  her  analytic  fac- 
ulty and  her  power  of  observation  made  her 
a  valuable  coadjutor,  followed,  and  by  1762 
they  had  begun  systematic  work  together. 
Literary  labour  was  not  new  to  Madame 
d'Epinay.  Her  early  letters,  written  for  the 
instruction  of  her  son,  were  put  into  form  and 
printed  when  she  was  in  Geneva,  with  her 
Portrait  of  Madame  d'Houdetot,  under  the 
title  Lettres  et  Portrait.  The  atmosphere  of 
the  period  was  so  critical  that  Madame 
d'Epinay  was  obliged  to  criticise  herself,  and 
it  is  with  an  ingenuous  and  engaging  candour 
which  not  only  attracts  us  by  its  naive  self- 
revelation  of  the  personality  of  a  woman  who 
has  been  dead  for  a  century  and  a  half,  but 


Madame  d' Epinay  189 

explains  the  charm  which  was  felt  by  every 
one  who  entered  her  house.  Yet  Madame 
d'Epinay,  like  other  leading  French  women  of 
the  eighteenth  century,  though  intimate  with 
men  of  letters  and  possessing  literary  capaci- 
ty, never  seriously  attempted  to  rival  them  in 
their  own  field  ;  she  was  satisfied  to  be 
supreme  in  her  salon.  For  if  we  glance 
critically  at  what  she  wrote  we  shall  find 
that  Mes  Moments  Heureux  is  but  a  collection 
of  letters,  personal  sketches,  and  a  few  verses 
which,  however  interesting  from  the  point  of 
view  of  character,  it  would  be  exaggeration 
to  regard  as  a  serious  literary  study;  not  that 
it  lacks  many  of  the  qualities  which  are  most 
delightful  in  a  book,  but  they  are  such  as  are 
found  in  the  spontaneous  form  of  correspond- 
ence or  diaries.  L'Amitie  de  Deux  Jolies 
Femmes  and  Un  Reve  de  Mademoiselle  Clair  on 
were  never  published  in  her  lifetime,  and  are 
mere  trifles.  The  Conversations  d'cmiUe, 
on  her  favourite  educational  theme,  and 
which  brought  her  unexpected  fame,  can 
scarcely  be  called  a  literary  work  nor  would 
it  now  excite  much  interest;  it  was  but  advice 


190  The  Salon 

such  as  any  reasonable  and  careful  mother 
would  impart  to  her  child  ;  but  it  is  for  this 
very  reason  that  it  is  so  remarkable,  for  it  was 
a  sign  of  moral  revolution,  of  the  rebellion  of 
thoughtful  women  against  habits  and  cus- 
toms from  which  no  one  had  suffered  more 
than  Madame  d'Epinay  herself.  Appearing 
early  in  January  of  1775,  it  immediately  ex- 
cited a  wide-spread  interest  and  passed 
through  many  editions.  All  her  friends  hast- 
ened to  express  their  appreciation  and  de- 
light, and  Catherine  II,  to  whom  the  second 
edition  was  dedicated,  adopted  her  methods 
in  the  education  of  her  grandson.  Madame 
d'Epinay  stood  in  sore  need  of  these  evi- 
dences of  the  friendship  upon  which  she  had 
all  her  life  so  much  depended.  Grimm  was 
now  almost  constantly  abroad,  Diderot  had 
joined  him,  and  while  they  were  enjoying 
St.  Petersburg  and  the  attentions  of  the 
Empress,  Madame  d'Epinay,  now  a  confirmed 
invalid,  suffering,  sad,  grew  daily  more  feeble, 
and  so  desperate  was  her  pecuniary  state 
that,  had  it  not  been  for  a  pension  from 
Catherine,  by  which  the  Empress  marked 


DIDEROT. 
From  an  Old  Painting. 


Madame  d'  Epinay  191 

her  appreciation  of  the  author  of  Les  Convers- 
ations d'Emilie,  she  would  have  been  in 
actual  want. 

For  a  little  time  Voltaire's  dramatic  return 
to  Paris  in  1778  cheered  her;  to  a  letter  ap- 
prising Galiani  of  the  great  event,  he  replied, 
"Your  two  letters  of  the  1st  and  22d  of 
March  have  given  me  infinite  pleasure,  and 
have  diminished  my  regret  not  to  be  in 
Paris  to  see  the  phenomenon  of  Voltaire. 
You  paint  it  in  such  vivid  colours  that  I  see 
it  and  hear  it,  and  I  laugh  most  heartily."1 
To  Madame  d'Epinay's  delight  Voltaire  had 
taken  quarters  near  her,  but  her  joy  was 
soon  turned  to  mourning;  the  excitement  of 
the  continuous  demonstrations  culminating 
in  the  apotheosis  at  the  Theatre  Francais 
was  too  great  for  Voltaire's  strength.  He 
died  May  30th,  and  the  public  idol  was 
refused  a  grave  in  the  city  which  had  wor- 
shipped him. 

In  1783  Les  Conversations  d'Emilie  was 
crowned  by  the  French  Academy  and  given 

1  Lettres    de  V Abbe    Galiani    d   Madame    d'Epinay.     t.    ii., 
p.  315. 


192  The  Salon 

the  prize  of  utility  founded  by  Monthyon 
and  then  presented  for  the  first  time.  Saint- 
Lambert  was  chosen  to  announce  it  to  her. 
Three  months  later,  at  the  age  of  fifty- 
seven,  she  died. 

VIII 

The  biographers  of  Madame  d'Epinay  and 
the  editors  of  the  Memoires  assert  that  they 
were  never  meant  for  publication.  No  doubt 
this  was  true  of  the  original  manuscript, 
but  changes  and  interpolations  recently 
discovered  in  this  manuscript  in  the  hand- 
writing of  Grimm,  and  in  which  Diderot 
is  also  implicated,  dispute  past  views  on 
this  point.1  The  Memoires,  at  any  rate, 
did  not  reach  the  public  before  1818,  when 
the  book  ran  through  three  editions  in  six 
months,  and  when  the  sensation  incident 
to  its  personal  features  had  subsided  it 
was — and  has  remained — still  in  demand. 
Though  not  always  correct  in  detail,  yet, 
more  perfectly,  probably,  than   any  other 

1   See  Jean  Jacques  Rousseau,  by  Frederika  Macdonald,  London, 
Chapman  &  Hall,  New  York,  G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons,  1906. 


Madame  d'  Epinay  193 

work,  it  gives  us  a  picture  of  the  intellectual 
society  of  France  in  the  middle  and  last  half 
of  the  century.  Madame  d'Epinay  was  forty 
when  she  conceived  the  idea  of  writing 
down  the  story  of  her  life;  the  form  of  a 
romance  was  necessary  out  of  regard  for 
the  well-known  people  about  her,  but,  if 
their  names  were  changed,  their  sentiments, 
sayings,  and  doings  belonged  literally  to 
that  society  of  which  she  was  a  centre. 
In  her  story  we  have  a  complete  record  of  a 
woman  of  the  world  of  the  eighteenth  cent- 
ury and  by  its  pitiless  light  we  are  able  to 
understand  some  of  the  causes  which  led 
to  the  Revolution.  Madame  d'Epinay  had 
a  philosophical  order  of  mind  and,  if  this  in- 
terdicted imagination,  we  are  the  gainers  in 
these  Memoir es,  knowing  them  to  give  exact 
types  of  the  period.  The  slight  veil  de- 
manded to  save  susceptibilities  discarded, 
we  are  in  the  midst  of  a  world  which  vividly 
lives,  even  though  it  is  a  world  of  sensation 
and  of  ideas  rather  than  of  events.  Her  salon 
was  the  pivot  about  which  circled  the  great- 
est mental  activity;  it  was  filled  with  think- 


194  The  Salon 

ers  whose  minds  were  bent  on  untangling 
the  knotty  problems  of  their  age;  it  was  the 
salon  which  gave  the  greatest  impetus  to 
the  philosophical  movement. 

Madame  d'Epinay's  work  shows  the  pre- 
ponderating influence  of  Rousseau  and  her 
writings  possess  features  in  common  with 
those  of  the  philosopher.  Education  is  the 
absorbing  subject  of  thought  with  each;  in 
the  Memoires  and  Confessions  we  are  living  in 
the  same  period,  and  among  the  same  peo- 
ple; the  same  philosophy  is  preached,  and 
the  authors  vie  with  each  other  in  their 
frankness  and  in  their  extraordinarily  lifelike 
pictures  of  the  remarkable  epoch  in  which 
they  lived. 

Though  so  closely  connected  with  the 
avowed  enemies  of  the  Church,  Madame 
d'  Epinay  was  essentially  religious.  Her 
children  were  reared  in  strict  observance  of 
their  religious  duties  and  moral  obligations; 
together  they  visited  the  poor  and  the  sick, 
when  she  encouraged  their  natural  sympathy 
with  distress,  and  pointed  out  their  con- 
nection with  humanity  in  its  different  forms. 


Madame  d'  Epinay  195 

We  see  the  practical  application  of  her 
philosophical  ideas  when  Madame  d'  Epinay 
introduced  her  son  to  business,  which  she 
wished  him  to  learn  from  the  foundation, 
and  which  she  regarded  from  an  absolutely 
unbiassed  and  modern  point  of  view.  He  did 
not  share  her  opinions,  but  his  complaints 
were  met  by  sound  advice: 

I  cannot  pity  you  much  for  being  obliged  to  bring 
the  candles,  to  sweep  the  office,  because  all  that  is 
not  very  grievous;  it  is  only  a  prejudiced  dunce  who 
could  attach  humiliation  to  that,  and  do  not  be  de- 
ceived; if  there  is  a  real  distance  between  the  profes- 
sion of  the  merchant  and  the  place  of  a  farmer  general, 
it  is  all  to  the  advantage  of  the  merchant;  for  observe 
that  he  lives  and  grows  rich  by  the  work  of  his  brain 
and  of  his  genius,  and  the  other  becomes  rich  by  im- 
positions upon  the  individual,  .  .  .  my  project 
.  .  .  is  not  to  leave  you  in  commerce,  not  that 
I  disdain  that  career  for  you,  but,  on  the  contrary,  be- 
cause you  have  not  enough  talent  to  distinguish  your- 
self there.  * 

Madame  d'  Epinay,  though  considerably 
younger,  survived  Madame  Du  Deffand  only 
three  years.  Each  to  the  last  held  a  brilliant 
court  of  her  own  in  the  same  city  at  a  time 

1  Dernitres  Annccs  de  Madame  d'  Epinay,  par  Lucien  Peneyet 
Gaston  Maugras,  Paris,  Calmann  Ley,  1S94,  p.  295. 


196  The  Salon 

when  intellect  alone  had  power  to  place  a 
woman  at  the  head  of  society.  No  two 
persons  could  have  been  more  opposite  in 
temperament,  but  each  seized  the  one  career 
open  to  the  ambition  of  a  woman  of  her  rank 
in  the  eighteenth  century  —  a  social  su- 
premacy over  a  group  of  remarkable  friends 
and  associates.  Through  years  of  ill-health 
Madame  d'  Epinay,  her  children  absent,  her 
friends  separated,  remained  courageous  and 
interested  in  the  world  about  her,  pre- 
serving her  charm  to  the  last,  broadening  in 
mind  and  disposition  as  the  years  went  by, 
and  amply  redeeming  the  mistakes  of  youth, 
— "  She  may  err,  but  she  will  never  be  irre- 
deemably lost," — mistakes  inseparable  from 
an  education  and  from  a  state  of  society  of 
which  she  was  at  once  a  victim  and  a  type. 


JULIE  DE  LESPINASSE 


JULIE  DE  LESPINASSE 

1732.     Born. 

1752.     Death  of  the  Comtesse  d'  Albon. 

1752.     Meeting  with  the  Marquise  Du  Deffand.  Leaves 

the  chateau  de  Champrond. 
1754.     Arrives  at    convent  of   St.   Joseph   in   Paris. 

Friendship  formed  with  d'  Alembert. 
1764.     Rupture  with  Madame  Du  Deffand.     Opening 

of  her  own  salon. 
1766.     Meeting  with  the  Marquis  de  Mora. 
1772.     Mora  leaves  Paris  for  the  last  time  and  Julie 

meets  the  Comte  de  Guibert. 
1774.     Death  of  Mora. 
1776.     Death. 


JULIE    DE    LESPINASSE 


OTUDIES  have  been  presented  of  Madame 
^  Du  Deffand  and  of  Madame  d '  Epinay, 
each  of  whom,  as  I  have  pointed  out,  was  not 
only  personally  attractive,  but  was  a  type  of 
the  women  of  the  eighteenth  century.  In- 
tuitively perceptive  of,  and  keenly  sensible 
to,  the  influences  at  work  about  them,  they 
— as  well  as  more  seemingly  dangerous  mal- 
contents— were  rising  in  revoltagainst  usages 
antagonistic  to  the  well-being  of  the  French- 
woman. Unaware  of  the  precarious  nature 
of  its  existence,  they  were  the  ornaments 
and  the  victims  of  that  glittering,  super- 
ficial society,  the  personal  charm  of  which 
has  never  been  equalled. 

In  the  preceding  pages  I  have  endeavoured 
to  illustrate  the  forces  by  which  the  gather- 
ings known  as  the  salons  were  affected,  and 

to  show  the  characteristics  of  the  women 

199 


200  The  Salon 

with  whom  they  are  in  our  minds  asso- 
ciated. Julie  de  Lespinasse,  it  may  be,  is 
less  of  a  representative  figure,  but  she  best 
illustrates  the  struggle  between  individuality 
and  convention,  and  among  all  the  women 
who  have  attained  celebrity  in  any  age  she 
stands  forth,  beside  the  Greek  Sappho,  a  pre- 
eminent example  of  the  emotional  type. 

Those  remarkable  women  who  held  salons 
were  not  generally  distinguished  for  their 
happy  lives,  but  it  was  especially  the  fate 
of  Julie  de  Lespinasse  to  be  unhappy,  and 
we  feel  an  exceeding  pity  as  we  follow  the 
life  of  one  born  under  a  cloud  and  pursued 
by  misfortune.  By  the  publication  of  her 
letters  she  is  seen  in  a  clearer  light  by  suc- 
ceeding generations  than  she  was  by  her 
contemporaries,  from  whom,  with  one  or 
two  exceptions,  her  highly  strung,  deeply 
emotional  temperament  was  concealed.  She 
hid  her  feelings  so  well  that  she  succeeded 
in  deceiving  her  most  intimate  friends,  who 
saw  in  her  only  the  clever,  charming,  sym- 
pathetic companion  and  confidante.  They 
scarcely  realised  —  though  warned  by  her 


D'ALEMBERT. 

After  the  Painting,  by  Chardin. 

Reproduced  by  permission  of  Brown,  Clement  &.  Company. 


Julie  de  Lespinasse  201 

frail  appearance  —  her  precarious  hold  on 
life,  and  still  less  suspected  the  struggles 
of  an  intense  nature  between  a  past  and 
present  passion.  It  was  long  after  her  death 
before  its  intricacies  and  depths  were  re- 
vealed by  her  letters  in  their  extraordinary 
avowals  of  regret  and  remorse  and  of 
strangely  intermingled  exaltation  and  pain. 


Julie  de  Lespinasse  was  born  at  Lyons, 
November  9,  1732.  She  was  the  daughter 
of  the  Comtesse  d'  Albon,  who  at  the  time 
of  her  birth  had  been  living  for  some  years 
apart  from  her  husband.  The  Countess  be- 
longed to  an  old  and  noble  family,  and  was 
very  rich,  the  child  receiving  the  name  of 
Lespinasse  from  a  part  of  her  large  property, 
while  Julie  was  her  own  name.  Julie's 
father,  in  the  gossip  of  the  time,  was  said 
to  be  the  Cardinal  de  Tencin,  but  it  has 
now  been  established  that  he  was  the  Comte 
de  Vichy,  Madame  Du  Deffand's  eldest 
brother,  and  who,  seven  years  after  Julie's 
birth,  had  married  Madame  d'  Albon's  eldest 


202  The  Salon 

daughter,  a  condition  of  affairs  which  ex- 
plains certain  veiled  yet  marked  allusions  to 
Julie's  history  which  are  found  in  her  letters. 

"  My  history  is  a  compound  of  circum- 
stances^ so  calamitous,  so  horrible,"  she 
wrote,  "that  it  proves  that  the  truth  is 
often  incredible."1  And  also:  "1  who  have 
experienced  only  atrocities  from  the  persons 
from  whom  I  ought  to  expect  solace  1  "2 

Her  childhood  and  early  youth  must, 
however,  have  been  happy  enough — though 
La  Harpe  tells  a  dramatic  tale  of  the  cloister 
and  of  danger  from  poison — for  it  was  really 
passed  with  her  mother  in  the  ancient 
chateau  d'  Avauges,  in  the  romantic  coun- 
try between  Lyons  and  Tartare.  She  was 
educated  better  than  was  usual  and  was 
plainly  the  Countess's  favourite.  But  at  six- 
teen a  great  misfortune  befell  her  in  the 
loss  of  her  mother,  who,  dying  suddenly, 
was  unable  to  complete  the  arrangements 


1  Correspondance  entre  Mademoiselle  de  Le spinas se  ct  le 
Comte  de  Guibert,  par  le  Comte  de  Villeneuve-Guibert,  Paris, 
Calmann  Levy,  1906,  p.  127. 

2  Lettres  Inedites  de  Mademoiselle  de  Lespinasse,  publiees  par 
M.  Charles  Henry,  Paris,  E.  Dentu,  1887,  p.  109. 


Julie  de  Lespinasse  203 

she  had  contemplated  for  Julie's  settlement, 
leaving  her  by  will  only  three  hundred  livres 
in  rente  viagere,  the  smallness  of  the  amount 
to  be  accounted  for,  probably,  by  the  deli- 
cacy of  their  relations.  On  her  deathbed 
the  Countess  attempted  to  supplement  the 
bequest  by  giving  her  secretly  a  sum  of 
ready  money  which  would  make  her  virtu- 
ally independent,  and  put  in  her  hands  the 
key  to  the  cabinet  which  contained  it.  But 
the  girl  showed  her  confiding  nature  and 
her  disinterestedness  by  delivering  the  key 
to  her  brother,  who  thereupon  took  the 
cabinet  and  its  contents  for  himself.  Though 
this  act  might  have  reassured  them,  the 
family  were  continually  tormented  with  the 
fear  that  Julie  would  claim  her  birthright,  for 
as  she  was  born  after  marriage,  she  was,  by 
law,  entitled  to  share  in  their  inheritance, 
and  from  this  time  she  was  exposed  to  their 
merciless  jealousy. 

They  did  not  dare  lose  sight  of  her  lest, 
out  of  their  watchful  supervision,  she  should 
claim  her  rights  and  bring  action  against 
them.    Julie  was  now,  therefore,  installed  at 


204  The  Salon 

the  chateau  de  Champrond,  where  she  was 
given  the  post  of  governess  to  her  sister's 
children,  and  where  her  services  soon  be- 
came invaluable  to  the  entire  family.  The 
unfortunate  circumstances  of  her  birth  were 
now  generally  recognised  and  her  position 
from  a  favourite  child  became  that  of  a  poor 
and  despised  dependent.  Such  an  exist- 
ence, amid  such  surroundings,  was  not  to 
be  supported  and,  after  two  years  of  un- 
complaining silence,  she  made  up  her  mind 
to  enter  a  convent,  though  it  was  not  until 
a  year  later  that  she  signified  this  intention 
to  her  sister,  the  Comtesse  de  Vichy,  who 
momentarily  turned  her  from  such  a  course. 
The  following  year,  however,  a  powerful 
friend  came  to  her  rescue. 

in 

It  is  the  brilliant,  masterful  Marquise  Du 
Deffand  who  now  enters  into  the  story  of 
Julie's  life.  The  Comte  de  Vichy — as  has 
been  previously  told — was  Madame  Du  Def- 
fand's  brother,  and  these  two  women,  de- 
stined to  have  so  important  an  influence  on 


Julie  de  Lespinasse  205 

each  other's  lives,  were  connected  by  blood. 
Madame  Du  Deffand  was  now  fifty-five,  and 
threatened  with  total  blindness.  She  came 
to  Champrond  toward  the  end  of  the  sum- 
mer of  1752,  with  the  half  formed  purpose 
of  spending  her  remaining  days  with  her 
kindred,  and  here  she  met  Julie  and  saw 
that,  if  not  pretty,  she  had  a  charming  man- 
ner and  a  graceful,  even  distinguished  ap- 
pearance. She  perceived,  too,  that  the 
young  girl  was  indispensable  in  the  family, 
yet  was  unloved,  uncared  for,  and  housed 
only  on  sufferance.  With  her  usual  quick 
insight  the  visitor  at  once  appreciated  the 
circumstances,  and  seized  her  opportunity. 
Now  convinced  that  she  could  neither  give 
up  Paris  nor  become  a  provincial  and  realis- 
ing the  benefit  such  a  companion  might  be 
to  her  in  her  growing  infirmity,  Julie  was 
invited  to  join  her  in  a  common  life  in  Paris. 
The  obligations  and  requirements  the  posi- 
tion would  entail  were,  however,  plainly 
pointed  out,  and  Julie  was  especially  advised 
what  she  should  avoid.  Those  warnings 
relating  to  Madame  Du  Deffand's  friends, 


206  The  Salon 

and  particularly  to  d'  Alembert,  when  read 
in  the  light  of  later  events,  seem  prophetic 
of  impending  disaster. 

It  was  on  April  8,  1754,  that  Julie  re- 
ceived the  last  of  many  letters  from  Madame 
Du  Deffand  before  the  final  step  was  taken. 
Many  jealousies,  many  suspicions,  had  to 
be  quieted  before  the  consent  of  the  family 
could  be  gained,  but  her  mission  had  been 
successfully  concluded,  though  Julie  was 
advised  of  the  expediency  of  secrecy. 

There  remains  nothing  more  but  to  speak  to  you  of 
the  joy  I  shall  have  to  see  you  and  to  live  with  you. 
I  am  going  to  write  at  once  to  the  Cardinal  to  beg 
him  to  arrange  to  send  you  as  soon  as  he  possibly 
can.  Do  not  let  your  plans  be  known  until  the  very 
day  of  your  departure;  .  .  .  Adieu,  my  queen,  make 
your  preparations;  and  come  to  be  the  happiness  and 
the  consolation  of  my  life.1 

Before  her  final  release,  however,  many 
negotiations  were,  in  that  age  of  family 
authority,  necessary,  and  these  cost  Ma- 
dame Du  Deffand  some  trouble.  But  the 
support  of  the  Queen,  Marie  Leczinska,  was 

1  Lettres  de   Mademoiselle  de  Lespinasse,    par    Eugene    Asse, 
Paris,  Bibliotheque  Charpentier,  1876,   p.  Ixxix. 


Julie  de  Lespinasse  207 

obtained,  and,  after  an  interval  of  eighteen 
months,  which  Julie  passed  in  a  convent  at 
Lyons,  the  sanction  of  the  Comte  de  Vichy 
was  secured  and  she  was  permitted  to  join 
Madame  Du  Deffand,  though  she  was 
henceforth  left  entirely  dependent  on  her 
generosity.  That  very  month  the  Cardinal 
de  Tencin  saw  Julie  depart  in  the  diligence 
to  Paris. 

Julie  had  now  undertaken  to  be  a  com- 
panion to  an  elderly  woman  who  was  a 
victim  of  insomnia,  and  was  rapidly  becom- 
ing blind.  Such  a  position  was  not  easy 
to  fill,  and  her  life  at  this  time  is  generally 
supposed  to  have  been  a  time  of  trial,  but 
the  character  and  circumstances  of  both 
women  were  such  that  they  lived  together 
for  ten  years  in  a  connection  which  was 
probably  in  the  interest  of  each. 

Julie  was  affectionately  received  at  the 
convent  of  St.  Joseph,  in  the  rue  St. -Domi- 
nique, to  which  Madame  Du  Deffand  had 
returned,  occupying  again  her  old  rooms 
and  her  famous  tonneau.  With  her  innate 
love  of  justice  Madame  Du  Deffand  could 


2o8  The  Salon 

not  be  without  a  keen  sense  of  responsi- 
bility toward  her  young  companion,  and 
we  see  them  enter  into  their  new  relations 
bound  together  by  hope  on  one  side  and 
gratitude  on  the  other  and  by  a  feeling  of 
mutual  dependence. 

The  life  of  Julie  de  Lespinasse  naturally  di- 
vides itself  into  three  parts.  With  the  first 
of  these,  her  childhood  and  her  early  woman- 
hood, passed  in  seclusion,  we  have  done 
when  she  entered  the  service  of  Madame 
Du  Deffand.  The  two  subsequent  periods 
are  those  which  have  made  her  celebrated. 
The  ten  years  during  which  she  lived  with 
Madame  Du  Deffand,  whatever  may  have 
been  her  influence  over  the  friends  of  her 
protectress,  and  however  much  her  tact, 
ability,  and  charm  were  creating  friends  for 
herself,  she  was  a  dependent,  and  a  depend- 
ent only.  But  from  1764  to  her  death,  in 
1776,  she  is  what  Madame  Du  Deffand  af- 
fectionately called  her  in  her  early  letters,  a 
queen — ma  reine, — for  she  ruled  over  a  circle 
as  brilliant  and  numerous  as  any  in  Paris 
with    an    unequalled  social  power.      "In 


Julie  de  Lespinasse  209 

truth"— she  is  writing  to  Monsieur  de  Gui- 
bert — <f  I  had  a  great  success" — she  had 
seen  many  people  in  the  day, — "  because  I 
brought  out  the  charm  and  the  wit  (esprit) 
of  the  persons  with  whom  I  was."1  To 
know  one's  powers  is  to  possess  the  secret 
of  success,  and  Julie  de  Lespinasse  under- 
stood her  own  capacity.  "  Mon  ami,  I  know 
myself  so  well  that  I  am  tempted  to  think 
you  are  mocking  me  when  you  speak  of  my 
successes  in  society.  .  .  .  It  is  eight 
years  since  I  retired  from  the  world."  She 
is  writing  in  1774,  only  two  years  before  her 
death,  when  her  health  was  already  broken. 
"  From  the  moment  that  I  loved  I  felt  a  dis- 
gust for  such  successes."2  This  self-know- 
ledge and  this  abnormal  capacity  for  social 
success  were  the  effects  of  an  unusual  sensi- 
tiveness of  temperament,  increased  by  an 
unnatural  youth  and  by  her  service  with 
Madame  Du  Deffand.  Julie  de  Lespinasse, 
as  she  was  known  to  Marmontel  and  d'  Alem- 

1  Corrcspondance  entre  Mademoiselle  de  Lespinasse  et  le  Comte 
de  Guibert,  par  le  Comte  de  Villeneuve-Guibert,  Paris,  Calmann 
Levy,    1000.,  p.  188. 

•  Ibid. 


210  The  Salon 

bert  and  the  leaders  of  intellectual  life  in 
Paris  at  the  beginning  of  the  last  half  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  was  a  being  resulting 
from  a  remarkable  character  placed  from 
youth  in  an  environment  which  was  suited 
to  the  development  of  singularities  of  mind 
and  temperament.  But  I  have  digressed 
somewhat  from  the  story  of  her  life,  which 
must  be  briefly  sketched  in  the  salon  of 
Madame  Du  Deffand  and  in  her  own  famous 
salon. 

I  will  announce  your  arrival  to  no  one,  I  will  tell 
the  people  who  first  see  you  that  you  are  a  young  girl 
from  my  province  who  wishes  to  enter  a  convent  and 
that  I  have  offered  you  a  home  until  you  have  found 
the  one  you  like.  I  will  treat  you  not  only  with  po- 
liteness but  with  consideration,  in  order  that  you  may 
be  received  with  due  respect  ;  I  will  confide  my  real 
intentions  to  a  very  small  number  of  friends  and  after 
the  space  of  three,  four,  or  five  months  we  will  know 
how  to  accommodate  ourselves  to  each  other  and 
then  we  shall  be  able  to  conduct  ourselves  with  less 
reserve. 1 

The  promises  which  this  letter,  written 
February  13,  1754,  contained  were  conscien- 

1  Lettres  de  Mademoiselle  de  Lespinasse,  par  Eugene  Asse,  1876, 
p.  lxxi,  Bibliotheque  Charpentier. 


Julie  de  Lespinasse  211 

tiously  fulfilled  and  Julie  not  only  proved  an 
invaluable  companion  to  Madame  Du  Def- 
fand,  who  freely  expressed  her  satisfaction 
with  the  success  of  her  project,  but  she 
brought  a  new  element  into  her  entire  circle  ; 
an  element  of  youth  and  gaiety,  a  vivacity 
and  an  enthusiasm  of  fresh  impressions 
which  enlivened  the  blase  courtiers  and  in- 
vigorated fatigued  intellects. 

How  feeble  are  expressions  to  describe  that  which 
one  feels  strongly!  The  mind  finds  words,  the  soul 
would  have  to  create  a  new  language.  Yes,  certainly, 
I  have  more  sensations  than  there  are  words  to  de- 
scribe them.1 

Impossible  as  was  expression  to  such  a 
temperament,  something  of  its  delicacy  and 
also  of  its  intensity  was  felt  by  every  one, 
and  lent  inexpressible  interest  to  every  word 
and  look.  She  fitted  easily  into  her  new 
conditions  and  while,  among  unkind  relatives 
and  their  unresponsive,  provincial  friends, 
she  had  been  timid  and  ill  at  ease,  in  the 
critical  and  exacting  society  of  the  capital  she 

1  Lcttrcs  de  Mademoiselle  de    Lespinasse,  par    Eugene    Asse, 
Pari-;,  Bibliotheque  Charpentier,  1876,  p.  75. 


212  The  Salon 

found  herself  quite  at  home.  The  Prince  de 
Beauvau  said  that  she  ranked  in  his  esteem 
with  the  incomparable  Formont,  the  most 
charming  and  the  most  beloved  in  this  per- 
haps rather  coldly  brilliant  coterie  ;  and  the 
accomplished  Chevalier  d'  Aydie,  who  re- 
garded every  woman  from  the  elevated 
standpoint  of  Mademoiselle  Aisse,  was 
equally  appreciative  in  his  judgment. 

Mademoiselle  is  keenly  touched  by  the  charming 
things  you  say  of  her  ;  when  you  know  her  better  you 
will  see  how  well  she  merits  them  ;  every  day  I  am 
more  pleased  with  her  [Madame  Du  Deffand  wrote 
the  Chevalier,  to  which  he  replied] : 

I  am  well  pleased  with  the  opinion  I  had  of  her  from 
the  first  and  I  pray  you  to  find  some  place  for  me  in 
her  good  will. 

Julie  de  Lespinasse  was  a  pronounced  suc- 
cess. She  realised  her  debt  to  the  Marquise 
and  appreciated  the  society  to  which  in  an 
unprecedented  degree,  considering  her  ex- 
perience and  circumstances,  she  had  been  so 
freely  admitted.  Many  years  later,  in  the 
full  tide  of  popularity  and  power,  and  when 
her  own  salon  rivalled  that  of  the  convent  of 
St.  Joseph,  she  wrote: 


Julie  de  Lespinasse  213 

~~  See  what  an  education  I  have  received :  Madame  Du 
Deffand  (for  she  ought  to  be  cited  for  esprit),  President 
HSnault,  Abbe  Bon,  the  Archbishop  of  Toulouse,  the 
Archbishop  of  Aix,  M.  Turgot,  M.  d'  Alembert,  Abbe 
de  Boismont,  M.  de  Mora,  these  are  the  men  who  have 
taught  me  to  speak,  to  think.1 

No  serious  love  affairs  ruffled  the  current 
of  her  life  during  this  early  period,  and  in 
this  brilliant  company  her  mind  rapidly 
developed.  Completely  under  the  spell  of 
such  stimulating  intellectual  pressure,  which 
entirely  satisfied  her,  she  felt  no  need  of  the 
excursions  into  the  realm  of  sentimental  ad- 
ventures or  of  cultivating  the  fashionable 
emotions  common  to  her  day.  A  correspond- 
ence with  a  young  Irishman  by  the  name  of 
Taaffe — introduced  to  the  convent  of  St. 
Joseph,  in  1757,  by  Crawford,  who  later  per- 
formed the  same  good  office  for  Horace  Wal- 
pole,  another  illustration  of  the  international 
social  intercourse  of  the  time — gives  some 
colour  to  the  probably  exaggerated  reports 
of  the  impression  the  Irishman  made  on  her 
youthful  fancy.    Letters  from  him  are  still  in 

1  Correspondance  de  Mademoiselle  de  Lespinasse  et  le  Comte 
de  Guibert,  pnr  le  Comte  de  Villeneuve-Guibert,  Paris,  Calmann- 
Levy,  1906,  p.  167. 


214  The  Salon 

existence,  declaring  his  love  for  Julie,  and  ex- 
pressing his  gratitude  to  Madame  Du  Deffand 
for  the  care  she  had  bestowed  on  her.  But  as 
Julie  never,  in  any  of  the  letters  in  which  she 
so  freely  divulges  the  history  of  her  inner 
life,  refers  to  this  episode,  it  is  doubtful  if,  at 
this  time  of  her  life,  she  were  capable  of  the 
strong  emotions  which,  later,  consumed  her 
very  existence. 

But  we  have  approached  a  signal  point  in 
Julie's  career.  Any  connection  with  Madame 
Du  Deffand  made  certain,  at  this  time,  rela- 
tions with  d'  Alembert  and  he,  henceforth, 
for  the  greater  part,  may  be  said  to  have  in- 
fluenced her  mind,  character,  and  future. 

IV 

D'Alembert  was  now  the  most  cherished 
friend  Madame  Du  Deffand  possessed,  and 
a  daily  visitor.  So  much  younger  than  her- 
self, her  friendship  was  of  a  maternal  nature 
and  she  watched  over  his  career,  making  use 
of  all  her  powerful  influence  in  his  behalf. 

D'Alembert  was  born  in  17 17  and  was 
therefore  thirty-seven  at  the  time  of  Julie's 


Julie  de  Lespinasse  215 

advent.  Deserted  at  his  birth,  largely  self- 
educated,  the  miserable  foundling  had,  never- 
theless, lifted  himself  by  his  attainments  and 
discoveries  above  his  scientific  contempora- 
ries. Mathematician,  philosopher,  and  writer, 
he  stood  on  an  intellectual  pre-eminence  and, 
from  the  time  of  his  brilliant  work  on  the  En- 
cyclopedic, at  the  head  of  the  philosophical 
party  in  Paris.  Add  to  this,  brilliant  conver- 
sational powers,  and  a  gay  disposition,  and  a 
social  success  was  assured.  D'Alembert  was 
still  a  young  man,  and  youth,  propinquity, 
similar  tastes,  and  the  bond  of  a  common 
misfortune1  inevitably  drew  Madame  Du  Def- 
fand's  two  proteges  together.  D'Alembert 
was  already  reckoned  among  the  greatest 
living  mathematicians ;  admitted  to  the 
Academy  of  Sciences  in  1741,  he  had  lately 
been  elected  to  the  French  Academy  through 
Madame  Du  Deffand's  efforts,  and  he  was 
beginning  his  work,  in  collaboration  with 
Diderot,  on  the  Encyclopedic.  Sought  after  at 
home  and  abroad,  any  one  must  have  been 
flattered  by  the  regard  of  such  a  man,  but  it 

1  D'Alembert  was  the  illegitimate  son  of  Madame  de  Tencin  and 
the  Chevalier  Destouches. 


216  The  Salon 

appears  that  his  affection  was  never  so  warm- 
ly reciprocated  as  it  deserved,  though  Julie 
valued  his  friendship,  and  fully  realised,  too, 
what  it  was  worth  to  her. 

A  few  years  passed  in  tranquillity  before 
dissensions  crept  in.  Though  intellectually 
they  had  much  in  common,  Madame  Du 
Deffand's  more  masculine  mind  was  not 
in  sympathy  with  the  sensitive,  intensely 
emotional  temperament  with  which  Julie 
de  Lespinasse  was  endowed  to  excess,  and, 
as  the  older  woman's  infirmities  grew  upon 
her,  and  more  services  were  required,  her 
appreciation  lessened,  while  her  compan- 
ion's early  gratitude  became  lukewarm. 
Julie's  chief  duty  was  to  read  aloud  at  night, 
a  task  which  often  lasted  till  day  brought  a 
short  period  of  repose  for  each  and,  at  last, 
following  a  time  of  growing  coldness  and  mu- 
tual dissatisfaction,  their  relations  were  sum- 
marily brought  to  a  close  by  the  disclosure 
that  Julie,  taking  advantage  of  Madame  Du 
Deffand's  habit  of  late  rising,  was  deceitfully 
holding  a  salon  of  her  own,  composed  of  the 
choicest  spirits  of  her  mistress's  following. 


Julie  de  Lespinasse  217 

In  her  own  chamber,  looking  out  upon 
the  courtyard,  the  dangerously  fascinating 
companion  received  d'  Alembert,  Condor- 
cet,  Turgot,  and  others,  the  most  capable 
minds  of  that  clever,  ultra-refined,  and 
aristocratic  society  which  Madame  Du  Def- 
fand's  ability,  wit,  and  social  power  had  at- 
tracted. In  this  modest  apartment  was  held 
the  beginning  of  Julie's  own  salon.  For  one 
brief  hour  it  was  the  scene  of  the  most 
animated  and  sparkling  conversation.  The 
time  was  short  and  therefore  the  more  pre- 
cious, and  each  must  have  realised  that  these 
were,  in  a  way,  clandestine  meetings,  that 
if,  or  rather  when,  exposed — for  no  one 
could  hope  that  these  secret  reunions  would 
continue  indefinitely  without  coming  to 
the  knowledge  of  Madame  Du  Deffand — 
she  must  look  upon  them  as  treasonable, 
and  upon  the  visitors  as  traitors.  Thus 
they  had  the  added  zest  of  the  ephemeral 
and  the  doubtful.  These  gatherings  were 
continued,  however,  several  years,  and  the 
interval  between  five  and  six,  the  hour 
before  Madame  Du  Deffand  received,  came 


2i8  The  Salon 

to  be  eagerly  anticipated  by  both  hostess 
and  guests  as  the  best  in  the  day.  But  the 
hour  had  run  its  course.  Madame  Du  Def- 
fand  had  for  some  time  looked  upon 
d'  Alembert's  growing  regard  for  Julie  with 
disfavour,  and  with  reason,  since,  as  his  ad- 
miration of  the  younger  lady  increased,  his 
attentions  to  the  elder  diminished.  Madame 
Du  Deffand's  affection  for  her  favourite  was 
too  strong  to  let  her  share  him  with  any 
one,  nor  could  so  proud  a  woman  permit  a 
rival  in  her  salon,  and  all  was  ripe  for 
trouble  when  discovery  brought  matters  to 
a  crisis. 

It  is  natural  to  inquire  if  Julie's  behaviour 
was  due  to  a  fault  of  character  or  if  justifi- 
cation can  be  found  for  her.  The  answer  is 
that  in  part,  at  least,  her  defection  may  be 
laid  at  the  door  of  her  friends  ;  they  admired 
her,  they  were  fond  of  her,  they  tempted 
her,  they  participated  in  her  fault.  Arbitrary 
and  arrogant,  Madame  Du  Deffand  claimed 
all  attentions,  and  that  they  might  see  some- 
thing of  her  who  had  become  already,  in 
truth,  her  rival,  it  easily  came  to  pass  that 


Julie  de  Lespinasse  219 

they  arrived,  by  degrees,  earlier  until  their 
and  her  hour  became  a  daily  habit.  She 
had  bewitched  them,  not  by  black  arts,  but 
rather  by  her  superiority,  and  they  were 
carried  away  by  the  ardour  and  suscepti- 
bility, the  quick  responsiveness,  other  tem- 
perament. Julie  de  Lespinasse  was  nervous, 
sensitive,  and  impressionable  to  an  extreme 
degree ;  viewed  psychologically,  she  pos- 
sessed the  exalted,  emotional  susceptibility 
of  the  psychopathic  type.  We  are  in- 
formed by  Professor  William  James  that : 
"  When  a  superior  intellect  and  a  psycho- 
pathic temperament  coalesce  in  the  same 
individual,  we  have  the  best  possible  con- 
ditions for  the  kind  of  effective  genius 
that  gets  into  biographical  dictionaries."1 
Such  a  being  was  Julie  de  Lespinasse. 

She  was  now  placed  in  a  difficult  position. 
Practically  without  resources,  one  course 
alone  remained  to  her ;  but  the  humble 
apology  that  she  offered  was  promptly 
declined  in  bitterly  reproachful  words.      In 

•  The  Varieties  of  Religious  Expcrioice,  Longmans,  Green, 
and  Co.,  1902,  p.  23. 


220  The  Salon 

the  first  explosion  of  indignation  and  anger, 
bitter  words  had  passed  between  them 
which  could  never  be  forgotten  or  forgiven. 

I  cannot  believe  that  it  is  a  sentiment  of  friendship 
which  makes  you  wish  to  see  me  [Madame  Du  Def- 
fand  replied  to  her  apologies];  it  is  impossible  to 
love  those  who  detest  and  abhor  you,  by  whom  one's 
pride  is  continually  humiliated  and  broken  ;  these  are 
your  own  expressions  and  the  sole  impressions  which 
you  have  received  for  a  long  time  from  those  whom 
you  have  called  your  true  friends.1 

The  rupture  was  complete  and  Julie  was 
turned  out  of  doors.  But  the  friends  she  had 
seduced  from  Madame  Du  Deffand  did  not 
fail  at  this  crisis,  and  they  hurried  to  her 
assistance  with  comforting  words  and  offers 
of  substantial  help.  The  Duchesse  de  Cha- 
tillon  proffered  her  protection,  the  Mare- 
chalede  Luxembourg  openly  blamed  Madame 
Du  Deffand,  and  suitable  apartments  for  the 
accommodation  of  the  fugitive  were  secured 
in  the  same  convenient  neighbourhood  of  the 
fashionable  quarter  of  St.  Germain,  on  the 
rue  St.  Dominique,  opposite  the  convent  of 
Belle-Chasse.    The  Marechale  furnished  her 

1  Correspondance  Complete  de  Madame  Du  Deffand,  ed. 
M.  de  Sainte-Aulaire,  t.  i.,  p.  291. 


Julie  de  Lespinasse  221 

rooms  and  President  Henault,  Turgot,  the 
Marquis  d'  Usse,  and  Madame  de  Chatillon 
together  provided  for  the  first  necessaries, 
while  the  Due  de  Choiseul,  one  of  Madame 
Du  Deffand's  oldest  friends,  procured  the 
new  favourite  a  pension  from  the  King 
which,  added  to  other  small  sums  obtained 
earlier  through  the  efforts  of  Madame  Du 
Deffand,  furnished  her  the  wherewithal  to 
live. 

Julie  proved  herself  worthy  to  be  entitled 
the  rival  of  Madame  Du  Deffand,  for  she  suc- 
ceeded in  drawing  away  her  most  distin- 
guished friends.  Some,  such  as  d'  Alembert, 
broke  the  closest  ties  of  years  entirely  and 
for  ever,  and  others  could  not  be  prevented 
from  dividing  their  allegiance.  It  was  a  bitter 
portion  for  the  proud  Marquise  and  one  won- 
ders that  she  could  for  a  moment  tolerate 
the  presence  of  those  who  likewise  sought 
the  salon  of  her  rival.  But  their  numbers 
were  too  numerous.  The  Comtesse  de  Bouf- 
flers  was  prominent  among  those  who  suc- 
ceeded in  remaining  on  intimate  terms  with 
both,  and  President  Henault,  who,  though 


222  The  Salon 

many  years  of  his  life  had  been  bound  to 
that  of  Madame  Du  Deffand,  was  so  infatu- 
ated with  the  rising  star  that,  in  spite  of  his 
advanced  years,  he  proposed  marriage,  and 
no  pressure  from  his  old  friend  could  ever 
alter  this  change  of  heart.  An  admirable 
"portrait"  of  Julie  is  to  be  found  in  his  Me- 
moires.1  The  Due  and  Duchesse  de  Beau- 
vau,  lifelong  friends  of  the  older,  continued 
their  admiring  worship  of  the  younger 
woman,  as  did  the  Chevalier  de  Chastellux, 
who  afterwards  obtained  his  seat  in  the 
Academy  through  Julie's  potent  influence. 
The  action  of  her  favourite,  the  Duchesse 
de  Chatillon,  who  had  rooms  at  the  convent 
of  St.  Joseph,  added  visibly  to  the  chagrin  of 
Madame  Du  Deffand.  "  I  have  not  seen 
her  since  her  grande  liaison  with  la  Les- 
pinasse."  So  contemptuously  did  she  allude 
to  her  former  companion,  the  year  after 
Julie's  death,  when  writing  to  Horace 
Walpole. 
As  soon  as  Walpole  came  to  Paris  the 

1  Memoir es  de  President  Henault,  Rec.  par  le  baron   de   Vigan, 
Paris,   1855,  p.  114. 


Julie  de  Lespinasse  223 

Marquise  excited  his  animosity — never  slow 
to  kindle — against  Julie,  and  thereafter  he 
never  lost  an  opportunity  to  warn  his  English 
friends  against  her. 

I  must  give  you  one  other  caution,  without  which 
all  would  be  useless  [he  wrote  General  Conway]. 
There  is  at  Paris  a  Mademoiselle  de  Lespinasse,  a 
pretended  bel  esprit  who  was  formerly  an  humble  com- 
panion of  Madame  Du  Deffand;  and  betrayed  her  and 
used  her  very  ill.  I  beg  of  you  not  to  let  anybody 
carry  you  thither.  It  would  disoblige  my  friend  of  all 
things  in  the  world,  and  she  would  never  tell  you  a 
syllable;  and  I  own  it  would  hurt  me,  who  have  such 
infinite  obligation  to  her,  that  I  should  be  very  un- 
happy if  a  particular  friend  of  mine  showed  her  this 
disregard.  ...  I  dwell  upon  it  because  she  has 
some  enemies  so  spiteful  that  they  try  to  carry  all  Eng- 
lish to  Mademoiselle  de  Lespinasse.1 

But  not  even  the  powerful  machinery  that 
Madame  Du  Deffand  was  able  to  set  in  mo- 
tion could  check  the  flight  of  the  newly 
arisen  aspirant  and,  from  the  first,  the  num- 
ber of  Julie's  adherents  continually  increased. 
Some  of  these,  as  was  the  case  with  Madame 
Geoffrin,  Madame  Du  Deffand  would  have 
nothing  of.  She  professed  a  fine  scorn  in- 
deed   for   the    entire    philosophical    party 

1  Letters  of  Horace  Walpolc,  ed.  Toynbee,  ix.,  59. 


224  The  Salon 

whose  leaders  Julie  had  taken  from  her, 
and  whom  she  satirised  as  'Ma  livree  de 
Voltaire." 

It  was  natural  that  Madame  Du  Deffand, 
who  had  torn  Walpole  from  her,  should  be 
cordially  disliked  by  Madame  Geoffrin,  and 
that  she,  who  had  felt  Madame  Du  Deffand's 
disdain,  should  be  gratified  in  seeing  that 
pride  for  once  laid  low  ;  she  therefore  wel- 
comed Julie  to  the  philosophical  ranks  with 
much  fervour,but  the  shrewd  bourgeoise  was 
personally  drawn  to  Julie,  also,  through  the 
same  irresistible  fascination  to  which  all 
must  submit  who  came  under  the  spell  of 
the  ''enchantress,"  and  her  regard  assumed 
the  same  practical  shape  by  which  she  loved 
to  show  her  interest  in  her  proteges.  She 
sold  three  precious  Van  Loos  to  furnish 
money  for  Julie's  immediate  use,  and  pre- 
sented her  with  a  pension  of  three  thou- 
sand livres.  Julie  was  the  only  woman 
Madame  Geoffrin  cared  to  invite  to  her 
dinners  and,  as  she  grew  old  and  feeble, 
she  depended  on  her  assistance  for  their 
continuance. 


Julie  de  Lespinasse  225 


Julie  de  Lespinasse  was  thirty-two  when, 
in  1764,  she  opened  her  salon  in  the  rue 
Saint  Dominique,  and  the  next  eight 
years  form  the  happy  era  in  her  life.  Pos- 
sessed, through  the  liberality  and  influence 
of  her  friends,  of  sufficient  though  modest 
means,  she  was  now  her  own  mistress,  free 
to  take  up  the  manner  of  life  she  wished  and 
for  which  she  was  so  supremely  fitted. 

Though  she  is  nowhere  said  to  be  beauti- 
ful, Julie  now  possessed  an  even  greater 
personal  charm  than  had  first  attracted 
Madame  Du  Deffand.  She  was  tall  and 
well  made,  and  the  grace  and  dignity  of 
her  carriage  aroused  general  attention.  To 
judge  from  her  portrait,  her  features,  though 
irregular,  were  pleasing,  and  her  face  was 
illumined  by  strangely  expressive  dark  eyes 
whose  extreme  vivacity  indicated  some- 
thing of  the  intense  life  within;  it  was, 
however,  the  extreme  mobility,  the  ever 
varying  expression  of  her  countenance 
which  was  its  chief  characteristic  and 
charm.    The    lack  of   beauty  among    the 


226  The  Salon 

leaders  of  the  salons  is  striking  and,  as  was 
almost  universally  the  case,  Julie  de  Les- 
pinasse  owed  little  of  her  success  to  any 
outward  attraction.  A  new  misfortune,  how- 
ever, overtook  her,  for  she  was  no  sooner 
fairly  installed  in  her  new  quarters  than  she 
was  seized  with  the  smallpox,  the  common 
scourge  of  her  time,  from  which  she  did  not 
make  a  good  recovery,  for  she  was  not  only 
disfigured,  but  her  sight  was  impaired  and 
her  general  health,  as  well,  affected. 

D'  Alembert,  whose  unremitting  devotion 
had,  perhaps,  saved  her  life,  stoutly  denied 
that  her  appearance  was  at  all  injured. 
"She  is  somewhat  marked,"  he  wrote  to 
Hume,  "but  without  being  disfigured  the 
least  in  the  world." 

But,  like  her  famous  contemporaries,  it 
was  the  mind  of  this  remarkable  woman 
which  compelled  attention,  and,  in  addition 
to  her  mental  gifts,  she  had  been  taught  the 
value  of  self-effacement,  and  won  by  it  a 
greater  reputation  for  amiability  than  can 
generally  be  claimed  for  her  rivals.  She 
never  troubled  people  either  about  her  deli- 


Julie  de  Lespinasse  227 

cate  health,  her  monetary  embarrassments, 
or  her  sorrows.  For  a  sound  foundation  in 
the  art  of  pleasing  she  was  gifted  by  nature 
with  the  wish,  to  which  was  added  the 
necessity,  of  pleasing  if  she  would  continue 
her  present  mode  of  life.  Such  natures  in- 
variably practise  the  tact  which  Julie  de 
Lespinasse  possessed  in  an  infinite  degree 
together  with  taste,  that  arbiter  of  the  cent- 
ury, for  she  was  sensitive  to  the  slightest 
discord  in  manners  or  conduct. 

Julie  could  not  afford  even  the  modest 
repasts  which  her  former  patroness  offered 
her  habitues,  but  the  greater  triumph  was 
hers  when  men  and  women  flocked  to  her 
salon  in  ever  increasing  numbers.  Grimm 
— who  divided  the  time  he  could  spare 
from  Madame  d'Epinay  between  her  and 
Madame  Geoffrin,— with  an  attempt  at  hu- 
mour, makes  allusion  to  her  want  of  beauty 
and  fortune  in  a  letter  to  the  philosophers, 
whom  he  addresses  as  brethren  in  the  phi- 
losophical sect: 

Sister  de  Lespinasse  wishes  it  to  be  known  that 
her  circumstances  do  not  permit  her  to  offer  either 


228  The  Salon 

dinner  or  supper,  and  that  she  has  not  the  least  wish 
to  receive  those  brethren  who  would  like  to  come 
there  for  the  sake  of  their  stomachs.  The  Church  has 
ordered  me  to  say  that  it  is  at  her  disposition,  and 
that  when  one  has  so  much  mind  and  merit  one  can 
pass  by  beauty  and  fortune.  ' 

The  warmth  of  her  temperament  had  its 
due  effect  on  Julie  de  Lespinasse's  salon, 
awaking  the  imagination,  vivifying  topics, 
giving  life  and  vigour  to  the  conversation. 
No  subject  was  too  deep  to  be  undertaken, 
no  anecdote  too  slight,  if  either  furnished 
instruction  or  entertainment.  Marmontel 
gives  an  account,  as  an  eye-witness,  of 
her  influence  over  the  diversified  company 
which  she  and  d'  Alembert  gathered  about 
them.  He  likens  the  dissimilar  personalities 
grouped  in  her  salon  to  the  chords  of  an 
instrument  from  which,  though  diverse  in 
themselves,  she,  by  her  art,  drew  forth  the 
most  exquisite  harmonies.  "  Nowhere,"  he 
says,  "was  the  conversation  more  lively, 
more  brilliant,  more  solid,  or  better  regu- 
lated."    The    activity    of  her    fancy    was 

1  Grimm,  Correspondance  Litt.,  1812,  1813,  1814,  17  tomes,  en 
3  parties,  t.  vi.,  p.  329. 


Julie  de  Lespinasse  229 

communicated  to  their  minds,  but  in  due 
measure.  Her  imagination  was  the  lever 
but  it  was  regulated  by  her  reason  and  the 
minds  which  she  swayed  to  her  liking  were 
neither  feeble  in  capacity  nor  wanting  in 
weight.  There  were  Condillacs  and  Tur- 
gots,  and  d'  Alembert  was  but  a  simple, 
docile  child  in  her  hands.  The  talent  of 
the  hostess  in  throwing  out  a  thought  for 
debate  to  such  men;  her  own  gift  for  dis- 
cussion with  a  precision,  sometimes  with 
an  eloquence,  like  their  own;  her  ingenuity 
in  introducing  new  ideas  and  in  varying  the 
conversation,  always  with  the  facility  of  a 
fairy  who,  by  a  wave  of  her  wand,  changes 
at  will  the  scene  of  her  enchantments, — these 
talents  were  not  those  of  any  ordinary  wo- 
man. The  trifles  of  the  world  and  of  vanity 
could  not  have  interested  the  same  circle 
of  superior  intellects  for  four  hours  of  each 
day.1 

Emotional  and  extremely  sensitive  to  im- 
pressions, as  I  have  said,  Julie  de  Lespinasse 
gave    herself  freely  to  her  intuitions  and 

1  Mcmoires,  Marmontel,  t.  ii.,  p.  229. 


230  The  Salon 

quick  sympathies,  creating  an  enthusiasm 
which  communicated  itself  to  every  one. 
"You  make  marble  feel  and  matter  think," 
said  Guibert.1  A  mental  atmosphere  pecu- 
liar to  herself  surrounded  her,  which  stimu- 
lated and  elevated  thought,  sharpened  the 
perception,  and  enlarged  the  intellectual 
horizon.  In  this  atmosphere  each  one  saw 
himself  at  his  best  and,  as  in  a  magic  mirror, 
his  ideas,  though  reflected,  were  transformed 
and  uplifted.  Possessing  a  genius  for  friend- 
ship, among  all  those  brilliant  women  who 
led  society  she  had  the  largest  personal  fol- 
lowing. She  forsook  all  ordinary  pleasures 
for  her  salon,  receiving  every  evening  from 
six  to  ten.  So  rarely  was  this  rule  broken 
that  an  occasional  visit  in  the  country  was 
an  event  talked  of  throughout  Paris.  She 
was  unique  in  having  no  favourite  in  her 
salon,  for  not  even  d'  Alembert  was  given 
more  prominence  than  his  conversational 
powers  naturally  obtained  ;  undoubtedly  his 
presence  was  an  irresistible  magnet  but  if 

1  "  Eloge   d'Eliza.     Lettres  de  Mademoiselle    de    Lespinasse, 
par  Eugene  Asse  ,   Paris,  Bibliotheque  Charpentier,  p.  359. 


MARMONTEL. 
From  an  ohl  Print. 


Julie  de  Lespinasse  231 

he  attracted  men  she  retained  them.1  A  per- 
fect equality  reigned,  and  when  the  hour 
struck  any  intimates  who  might  have  been 
on  more  familiar  terms  earlier  were  then 
placed  on   a  level  with  the    rest   of  the 

company. 

"M.  de  Marmontel  proposed  to  me  to 
come  last  Wednesday  and  read  me  his  new 
comic  opera.  He  came  ;  there  were  some 
twelve  persons  present.  Behold  us  in  a 
circle  surrounding  him,  and  listening  to  the 
Vieux  Garfon,  that  was  the  name  of  the 
piece,"2  she  writes  in  1774. 

The  distinguishing  mark  of  this  salon  lay 
in  its  variety  and  in  its  freedom,  which  were 
its  essential  features  for,  naturally  following 
the  lead  of  Madame  Du  Deffand,  whose 
friends  had  become  hers,  it  retained  the 
literary  and  aristocratic  elements  for  which 
the  salon  of  Madame  Du  Deffand  was  re- 
nowned; foreign  countries,  the  court,  the 
state,  the  church,  and  the  army,  beside  the 
literary  coterie,  all  having  their  best  repre- 

1  Correspondatice  Litteraire,  Grimm,  1812,  1813,  1814,  17  vol., 
t.  ix.,  p.  81. 

2  Lettrcs  de  Mademoiselle  de  Lespinasse,  par.  Eugene  Asse, 
Paris,  Bibliothcque  Charpentier,  p.  128. 


232  The  Salon 

sentatives  among  her  habitues.  And  also, 
from  her  close  connection  with  d'Alembert, 
the  acknowledged  philosophical  leader,  the 
salon  of  Julie  de  Lespinasse  was  termed  phi- 
losophical. It  was  no  empty  title.  That  of 
Madame  Geoffrin  had  a  wider,  a  more  pub- 
lic renown,  but  the  freedom  of  discussion 
permitted  by  Julie  was  in  marked  contrast 
to  Madame  Geoffrin's  hard  and  fast  rules, 
and  for  this  reason  the  subsidiary  salon  ex- 
ercised a  greater  influence  on  the  philosoph- 
ical circle  than  that  which  was  its  reputed 
centre.  Seats  in  the  Academy,  like  reputa- 
tions, were  gained  or  lost,  and  public  opinion 
guided,  also,  to  a  greater  extent  in  Julie  de 
Lespinasse's  salon  than  in  any  other.  "  It 
was  almost  a  title  of  consideration  to  be 
received  in  this  society,"  wrote  La  Harpe.1 

Julie  de  Lespinasse  was  probably  the  best 
educated  of  any  of  the  directors  of  the 
salons.  She  was  a  linguist,  which  was  par- 
ticularly useful,  enabling  her  to  be  agreeable 
to  the  strangers  who  came  in  great  numbers 
to  Paris.    She  was  also  well  versed  in  foreign 

1  Carres pondance  Liiteraire,  La  Harpe,  1804,  t.  1,  p.  586. 


Julie  de  Lespinasse  233 

literature,  as  well  as  in  that  of  her  own 
country,  and  she  delighted  especially  in  the 
newly  arisen  English  fiction. 

As  was  to  be  expected,  she  was  one  of 
the  most  ardent  admirers  of  the  genius  of 
Rousseau,  though  she  met  him  but  a  few 
times,  and  therefore  hardly  knew  him  except 
through  his  works.  Intimacy  with  Hume 
might  in  another  have  prejudiced  the  judg- 
ment against  Rousseau,  yet,  in  spite  also  of 
d'Alembert,  whose  resentment  was  aroused 
by  being  forced  into  the  quarrel,  and  of  re- 
peated warnings  from  ever-prudent  Madame 
Geoffrin,  her  sympathies  were  enlisted  for 
the  sensitive,  irascible,  and  perverse  phi- 
losopher in  the  furious  conflict  provoked  by 
Walpole's  malicious  spirit.  Always  natural, 
and  instinctively  sincere,  Julie  was  out  of 
harmony  with  the  artificial  and  material 
mid-century  type,  and  was  by  nature 
adapted  to  appreciate  the  teachings  of 
Rousseau. 

The  unique  intercourse  which  existed 
about  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century 
between  some  of  the  first  thinkers  and  men 


234  The  Salon 

of  letters  in  England,  and  the  most  brilliant 
section  of  French  society,  is  illustrated  by  the 
friendship  between  Julie  de  Lespinasse  and 
David  Hume.  Hume  arrived  in  Paris  as 
secretary  to  Lord  Hertford,  the  newly  ap- 
pointed British  Ambassador,  on  October  14, 
1763.  The  next  year  came  the  separation 
between  Madame  Du  Deffand  and  Julie, 
which  has  already  been  described,  and  which 
absorbed  the  attention  of  the  fashionable  and 
intellectual  world  of  Paris.  From  the  mo- 
ment of  his  arrival  Hume  became  the  fashion, 
to  the  surprise,  and  perhaps  chagrin,  of  some 
of  his  friends.  "  He  is  treated  here  with  a 
perfect  veneration.  His  history,  so  falsified 
in  many  points,  so  partial  in  as  many,  so  very 
unequal  in  its  parts,  is  thought  the  standard 
of  writing" — so  wrote  Horace  Walpole  to 
George  Montagu  in  1765.1  Lord  Charlemont, 
who  was  no  better  pleased,  strikes  a  more 
personal  note.  "No  lady's  toilet,"  he  says, 
"was  complete  without  Hume's  attendance. 
At  the  Opera  his  broad,  unmeaning  face  was 
usually  seen  entre  deux  jolts  minois"    Julie 

1  Letters  of  Horace  Walpole,     ed.  Toynbee.  p.  301. 


Julie  de  Lespinasse  235 

de  Lespinasse's  rising  salon  would  have  lost 
a  singular  attraction  if  Hume  had  not  been 
one  of  the  frequenters.  This  is  why  Madame 
Du  Deffand  did  not  like  him ;  he  belonged  to 
the  rival  salon.  "He  has  displeased  me," 
she  wrote,  when  he  was  returning  to  Scot- 
land. "Hating  idols  I  detest  their  priests 
and  their  worshippers."  It  had  been  other- 
wise at  first.  "The  charms  and  pleasures 
he  has  found  elsewhere,"  she  wrote,  in  a 
melancholy  strain,  to  Crawford,  "have  taken 
him  away,"1  and  as  she  had  been  the  first 
to  befriend  him,  it  was  not  unnatural  that 
his  abandonment  should  be  resented.  Her 
old  mistress  might  well  regard  Julie  as  a  high 
priestess  of  Hume,  and  so  the  idol  was  out 
of  favour  because  she  worshipped  at  its 
shrine. 

If  Julie  was  more  discreet  than  Madame 
Du  Deffand  with  her  tongue,  the  partisan- 
ship of  her  friends  was  decided  and 
severe.  "As  to  my  neighbour  the  viper," 
was  the  disagreeable  way  in  which  d'  Alem- 

1  Correspo>idance  Complete  de  Madame  Du  Deffa>id,   M.   de 
Sainte  Aulaire,  t.  i.  p.  48. 


236  The  Salon 


bert,  in  a  letter  to  Hume,  begins  a  reference  to 
his  old  friend;  for  Hume  and  d'  Alembert  also 
carried  on  a  correspondence,  and  the  Eng- 
lish philosopher  proved  the  esteem  in  which 
he  held  his  French  colleague,  by  a  legacy  of 
two  hundred  pounds.  The  correspondence 
ot  Mademoiselle  de  Lespinasse  with  Hume 
throws  a  good  deal  of  light  on  the  character 
of  this  versatile  woman.  Nothing  could  be 
more  matter  of  fact,  more  unsentimental,  than 
her  letters  to  him,  though  at  the  same  time 
they  are  so  unaffected  and  so  friendly  that, 
following  upon  a  sympathetic  personal  inter- 
course, they  suggest,  rather  than  indicate, 
the  charm  which  made  so  many  of  the 
ablest  and  best  known  men  of  the  age  her 
devoted  friends.  The  friendship  of  Hume 
and  Julie  de  Lespinasse  illustrates  also  some 
of  the  influences  which  created  the  remark- 
able understanding  between  the  leaders  of 
English  and  French  opinion,  the  intellectual 
sympathy,  and,  on  the  part  of  the  French, 
the  appreciation,  of  the  freedom  which  per- 
mitted Locke,  and  at  this  time  Hume,  to 
express,  without  repression,  the  most  liberal 


Julie  de  Lespinasse  237 

views,  whether  on  religion  or  politics.  The 
importance  of  the  relations  between  Hume 
and  Julie  de  Lespinasse,  however,  whether 
as  an  incident  in  the  history  of  letters,  or  as 
a  personal  episode,  must  not  be  overrated. 
It  cannot  for  a  single  moment  compare  with 
the  famous  friendship  of  Horace  Walpole  and 
Madame  Du  Deffand,  each  of  whom,  too, 
was  a  fastidious  aristocrat  as  well  as  a  lover 
of  letters,  and  of  intellectual  brilliancy. 
Neither  can  Hume  and  Walpole  well  be  com- 
pared, and  Julie  de  Lespinasse  who  was  con- 
tinually sustained  by  first  one  and  then  the 
other  of  the  two  most  influential  women  in 
Paris,  was  lifted  into  a  place  among  the  wo- 
men ofthe  salons.  Nor,  between  Hume  and 
Julie,  was  there  any  of  that  delicate,  ap- 
preciative, and  tender  attachment  which  has 
given  to  the  relations  of  Madame  Du  Deffand 
and  Walpole  something  ofthe  ideal.  But  this 
friendship  and  others  not  unlike  it  have  made 
the  eighteenth  century  memorable,  in  that  a 
group  of  men  and  women  met  on  terms  of 
open  and  acknowledged  intellectual  equality. 
D'  Alembert,  Diderot,  Grimm,   Hume,  and 


238  The  Salon 

Walpole  would  have  been  the  first  to  admit 
that  the  delightful  women  in  whose  salons 
they  were  received  had  as  able  heads  as 
themselves. 

Julie  de  Lespinasse  was  a  great  admirer  of 
the  English,  as  well  as  of  English  literature. 
Sterne  was  her  favourite  author,  and  she 
made  the  reputation  of 'the  Sentimental  Jour- 
ney in  Paris  by  a  good  translation.1  She 
wrote  a  piece2  in  admirable  imitation  of 
Sterne's  style  which,  oddly  enough,  was  first 
published  in  England,  not  appearing  in  Paris 
till  two  years  later  in  a  French  translation. 
Richardson  was  at  this  time  at  the  height  of 
his  popularity,  and  she  was  one  of  those 
who  most  appreciated  his  genius. 

VI 

The  names  of  Madame  Du  Deffand  and 
d'  Alembert  are  indissolubly  linked  with  that 
of  Julie  de  Lespinasse,  and  she  is  equally  well 
known  as  the  rival  of  one  and  the  friend  of 
the  other ;  we  must  now,  therefore,  more 

1  Published  in  London  in  1767. 
1  Suite  du  Voyage  Sentimental. 


Julie  de  Lespinasse  239 

closely  consider  her  connection  with  d'Alem- 
bert.  It  was  Julie  who  was  the  cause  of  his 
obstinacy  when  he  refused  the  Presidency 
of  the  Academy  of  Berlin,  and  also  when  he 
persistently  declined  to  leave  Paris  for  the 
Russian  capital,  notwithstanding  the  mu- 
nificent offers  of  Catherine  II,  for  from  the 
time  of  her  rupture  with  Madame  Du  Def- 
fand,  d'  Alembert  devoted  his  life  to  Julie. 
But  it  cannot  be  said  that,  beside  her  com- 
panionship, he  received  no  equivalent,  for 
her  salon  served  to  propagate  his  philosophi- 
cal ideas,  and  guaranteed  that  honour  of 
which  he  was  most  proud  and  most  jealous 
— his  place,  unquestioned  after  Voltaire's 
death,  at  the  head  of  the  philosophical  party, 
whose  leadership  was  his  chief  concern. 
The  Portrait '  which  he  addressed  to  Julie, 
in  1777,  is  a  splendid  gift— an  offering  ex- 
pressing the  lofty  sentiments  which  she 
had  inspired — from  one  of  the  first  men  of 
his  times  to  his  best  friend,  for  Julie  was 
always    that,    as    he    was    hers,    though 

1  Lettres  de   Mademoiselle  de  Lespinasse,    par   Eugene   Asse, 
Paris,    Bibliotheque  Charpentier,    1877,  p.  343. 


24-Q  The  Salon 

she  wandered  far  from  his  singleness   of 
attachment. 

Julie  de  Lespinasse's  life  was  remarkably 
free  from  ill-natured  gossip,  and  for  no 
woman  who  occupied  such  a  conspicuous 
place  in  society  was  less  of  malice  shown. 
Whether  it  was  the  general  light  behaviour 
of  the  period,  or  the  respect  in  which  she  and 
d'  Alembert  were  held,  that  shielded  them, 
at  any  rate  they  escaped  unpleasant  remark, 
and  their  intimate  association  was  accepted 
by  society  as  quite  correct.  Hume,  how- 
ever, was  not,  at  first,  so  charitable,  not 
easily  believing  that  simple  friendship  could 
be  the  basis  of  their  relations  and,  in  a  letter 
to  England,  he  plainly  puts  his  own  inter- 
pretation on  the  affair.  "  Since  I  wrote  the 
above,  I  went  to  see  Mademoiselle  de  Lespi- 
nasse,  d'  Alembert's  mistress,  who  is  really 
one  of  the  most  sensible  women  of  Paris. ,M 
This  opinion  of  her,  nevertheless,  did  not 
prevent  him  from  immediately  opening  the 
cordial  relations  which  were  continued  for 

1  Life  and  Correspondence  of  David  Hume,  by  J.  Hill  Burton, 
London,  1846,  vol.  ii.,  p.  237. 


Julie  de  Lespinasse  241 

so  many  years  by  their  correspondence. 
Her  reputation  rather  gained  than  suffered 
when  d'Alembert  took  up  his  abode  in  the 
same  house  for,  the  year  following  her  estab- 
lishment in  the  rue  Saint  Dominique,  d'Alem- 
bert falling  ill,  she  nursed  him  tenderly  and, 
as  soon  as  he  was  able,  had  him  removed 
thither,  where  he  lodged  for  the  rest  of 
her  life.  A  report  that  they  were  to  be 
married  was  circulated  in  the  gazettes  and 
d'Alembert  unjustifiably  denounced  Mad- 
ame Du  Deffand  as  its  probable  author  in  an 
angry  letter  to  Voltaire  : 

The  person  to  whom  they  marry  me  [in  the  ga- 
zettes] is  in  truth  respected  for  her  high  character  and 
well  fitted  by  her  sweet  disposition,  gentleness,  and  by 
the  pleasure  which  her  society  gives,  to  make  a  hus- 
band happy;  but  she  is  worthy  of  a  better  establish- 
ment than  mine,  and  there  is  neither  marriage  nor 
love  between  us,  but  reciprocal  esteem  and  all  the 
sweetness  of  friendship.  I  live  actually  in  the  same 
house  as  she,  where  there  are  beside  ten  other 
lodgers;  this  is  what  has  occasioned  the  talk  which 
has  been  going  about.  I  do  not  doubt  besides  [he 
concludes]  but  that  it  has  been  assisted  by  Madame 
Du  Deffand.' 

1  March  3,  1760.  CEuvres  d'  Alcmbert,  Paris,  Berlin,  1822, 
t.  v.,  p.  148. 


242  The  Salon 

The  society  of  the  salon,  in  the  last  half 
of  the  eighteenth  century,  worshipped  pure 
intellect.  Birth  had  lost  its  prerogative; 
beauty  its  sovereignty.  The  reign  of  the  in- 
tellect was  supreme  even  when  encumbered 
with  age,  infirmity,  and  ugliness,  or  handi- 
capped by  mean  parentage  or  poverty — 
a  triumph  of  mind  over  matter.  As  I  have 
said  hardly  one  of  those  women  whose  in- 
fluence was  paramount  in  the  salons  was 
beautiful,  and  physical  attraction  among 
men  was  of  little  account.  Neither  Julie  de 
Lespinasse  nor  d'Alembert  had  or  needed 
personal  beauty  to  make  them  the  most 
sought  after  couple  in  Paris.  Yet  primal 
instincts  could  not  be  permanently  sup- 
pressed and  Julie,  though  no  one  was  more 
inclined  for  the  society  of  men  of  intellect, 
at  length  surrendered  her  heart  to  thecharm 
of  youth  and  a  handsome  person.  It  may 
be  that  d'Alembert's  small  stature  did 
not  fulfil  a  romantic  ideal  and  that  his 
high-pitched  voice  grated  on  her  sensitive 
nerves,  even  though,  beside  his  intellectual 
pre-eminence,  his  reputation  for  delicate  wit 


Julie  de  Lespinasse  243 

and  scathing  satire  and  his  gift  for  caricature 
and  story-telling  made  him  easily  the  first 
at  any  gathering  of  bets  esprits;  while  his 
modesty,  simplicity,  and  plainness  of  man- 
ners, his  gentle  spirit  and  compassionate 
heart,  and  his  regular  life,  which  was  in  such 
contrast  to  the  age,  if  it  brought  forth  con- 
tempt and  pity  rather  than  admiration  and 
esteem,  still  created  a  deep  impression  amid 
the  follies,  the  restlessness,  and  the  reckless- 
ness which  marked  it. 

His  devotion  to  Julie  knew  no  bounds. 
No  service  was  too  small  to  be  undertaken 
for  her ;  he  fetched  and  carried,  and  even 
ran  to  the  post  that  she  might  receive  early 
tidings  from  his  rivals.  The  first  years  which 
they  spent  at  the  rue  Saint  Dominique 
were  a  period  of  unclouded  happiness  for 
both.  D'Alembert  held  the  first  place  in 
Julie's  affections  and  there  was  certainly 
some  warmth  in  her  sentiments  for  she  once 
told  him  that  she  was  frightened  at  the 
happiness  he  gave  her.1 

1  Lettres  de  Mademoiselle  de  Lespinasse,  par  Eugene  Asse, 
Paris,  Bibliothcque  Charpentier,  1876,  p.  374. 


244  The  Salon 

VII 

Julie  de  Lespinasse,  as  so  involuntarily, 
but     so    clearly,    revealed    in    her    now 
famous  letters,  will  always  remain  an  en- 
thralling  subject  for  those  who    are    in- 
terested in  the  analysis  of  the  human  heart. 
But  the  story  of  a  temperament  at  once  bril- 
liant and  emotional,  however  fascinating, 
lies  outside  the  scope  of  these  studies,  which 
are  primarily  concerned  with  the  relation  of 
certain  individualities  to  the  evolution  of  the 
society  of  their  epoch.  The  love  of  Mora,  and 
the  fainter  but,  for  Julie,  fatal  affection  of  Gui- 
bert — episodes  apart  so  far  as  regards  the 
progress  of  French  society  as  seen  in  the 
salons, — reveal,  however,  some  of  the  causes 
of  the  irresistible  attraction,  sometimes  de- 
structive of  old  and  long  friendships,  felt  by 
the  most  widely  different  persons  for  one 
who  was  attractive  by  reason  of  the  subtle 
qualities  of  womanhood  which  always  charm 
men,  and  of  a  mind  at  once  vivid,  intelli- 
gent, and  sympathetic,  whose  influence  was 
admitted  by  the  first  philosophers  of  the  age. 


Julie  de  Lespinasse  245 

In  the  year  1766  a  new  figure  had  ap- 
peared upon  the  scene.  The  Marquis  de 
Mora,  twelve  years  younger  than  Julie,  was 
the  eldest  son  of  the  Comte  de  Fuentes,  the 
Spanish  Ambassador  to  France.  Of  great 
promise,  he  was  declared  by  d'  Alembert  to 
be  the  most  perfect  character  he  had  ever 
known.  Much  was  hoped  from  him  politi- 
cally by  the  reform  party  in  France  as  in 
Spain.  L'abbe"  Galiani  termed  him  "the  first 
grandee  among  the  grandees  of  Spain."  He 
was  idolised  by  society,  and  Julie,  meeting 
the  hero  of  the  hour,  surrendered  to  his 
charm  and  fell  in  love.  Ministered  to  with 
unceasingsolicitude  by  d'  Alembert,  Julie  had 
enjoyed  at  once  peace  and  independence  ; 
now,  adored  by  the  man  who  had  won  her 
heart,  the  full  tide  of  life  set  in,  and  her 
deeply  passionate  nature  was  fully  aroused. 

It  appears  certain  that  they  were  engaged 
to  be  married.  The  Marquis's  family,  how- 
ever, had  other  designs  for  his  future  ;  his 
delicate  health  was  another  anxiety  ;  Julie 
therefore  concealed  their  relations  and  her 
feelings   from   her  friends,   and  even  from 


246  The  Salon 

d'Alembert,  who  wrote  at  this  very  time: 
"  passion  is  not  in  you." 

In  August  of  1772,  Mora  was  obliged  by 
ill  health  to  leave  Paris;  the  time  of  his  re- 
turn was  uncertain,  and  Julie  was  so  affected 
by  the  parting  that,  in  the  endeavour  to 
turn  her  attention  from  her  trouble,  she 
threw  herself  with  all  her  natural  impetu- 
osity, before  the  month  was  out,  into  an 
intimacy  with  a  young  officer,  the  Comte 
de  Guibert,  a  newcomer  in  Paris,  but  al- 
ready a  prominent  figure  in  the  army  and  in 
society,  and  she  found  herself,  before  she 
was  aware  of  it,  under  the  domination  of 
a  passion  from  which  she  unceasingly  at- 
tempted, but  in  vain,  to  escape.  "Sorrow," 
she  writes,  "  was  the  emotion  that  drew 
me  to  you" ;  but  if  her  love  for  Mora  was 
an  idyl,  that  for  Guibert  was  a  tragedy, 
and  d'  Alembert,  prophesying  the  empire  a 
man  such  as  Guibert  might  gain  over  her, 
now  reads  as  if  inspired.  Writing  in  1771, 
before  she  had  met  Guibert,  d'  Alembert 
draws  a  picture  to  which  the  man — and 
this  time  the  object  of  her  affections  was 


Julie  de  Lespinasse  247 

eleven  years  her  junior — who  obtained  such 
an  ascendancy  bears  a  remarkable  likeness. 

The  only  thing  for  which  you  can  be  reproached 
[he  wrote,]  is  your  extreme  sensitiveness  to  what  is 
called  "good  style"  in  manners  and  speech;  the  lack 
of  that  quality  you  think  scarcely  effaced  by  the  truest 
sentiment  that  can  be  offered  you.  There  are  men, 
even,  in  whom  the  presence  of  that  quality  supplies 
the  want  of  all  others;  you  know  them  such  as  they 
are,  weak,  selfish,  full  of  airs,  incapable  of  deep  and 
constant  feeling,  but  agreeable  and  charming,  and  you 
have  a  great  inclination  to  prefer  them  to  your  more 
faithful  and  more  sincere  friends;  with  more  care  and 
a  few  more  attentions  for  you  they  might  eclipse  all 
others  in  your  eyes,  and  perhaps  take  the  place  of 
all.1 

But  injustice  to  Julie's  judgment  it  must 
be  added  that  Guibert  fascinated  and  de- 
ceived all  her  society,  which  regarded  him 
as  a  young  prodigy  who  would  reform  pol- 
itics and  the  army,  for  he  wrote  on  both; 
he  aspired  as  well  to  the  whole  field  of  lit- 
erature and  to  academic  honours,  which  he 
obtained,  but  not  until  after  the  death  of 
Julie  de  Lespinasse.  To  be  fair,  it  would 
appear  that  his  want  of  proper  consideration 

1  Lettres  of  Mademoiselle  de  Lespinasse,  par  Eugene  Asse, 
Paris,  Bibliotheque  Charpentier,  1876,  p.  301. 


248  The  Salon 

— it  cannot  be  said  that  he  was  wanting  in 
appreciation — for  Julie,  has  led  her  sympa- 
thetic critics  to  underestimate  Guibert's 
ability.  To-day  his  writings  have  lost  their 
interest,  but  they  impressed  his  contem- 
poraries as  first-rate.  His  book  on  military 
tactics  in  which  he  forestalled,  in  some 
degree,  later  authorities,  was  considered  a 
notable  work  at  the  time.  He  was  asked 
to  read  his  dramatic  pieces  before  Voltaire 
and  the  different  celebrated  persons  he  vis- 
ited in  his  travels,  and  one  was  played  with 
considerable  success  before  the  King  and 
Queen  at  Versailles,  and  also  at  Chante- 
loup,  where  the  Due  de  Choiseul  was 
comfortably  ensconced  in  semi-royal  state. 
Madame  Necker  was  warm  in  her  praises 
of  him,  and  later  in  his  life  he  was  the  first 
of  Madame  de  StaeTs  preferred  admirers. 
Nor  was  Guibert  wanting  in  practical  quali- 
ties and  capacity  for  he  was  a  good  soldier, 
and  fought  bravely  in  many  engagements. 

"  Monsieur  Guibert  seeks  glory  by  every 
road;  to  receive  applause  from  armies,  thea- 
tres, and  women  is  a  sure  means  to  immortal- 


Julie  de  Lespinasse  249 

ity,"  Frederick  II  wrote  to  Voltaire  in  1775. 
Voltaire  addressed  one  of  his  satires  to  Gui- 
bert,  "who  appears  to  me,"  he  told  d'Alem- 
bert,  "a  man  full  of  genius  and,  what  is  not 
less  rare,  a  very  amiable  man."1  Young, 
handsome,  in  the  fashion,  a  great  future  pre- 
sumably before  him,  it  was  not  strange  that 
he  pleased  Julie,  though  it  is  a  proof  of  odd 
weaknesses  in  human  nature  that  a  woman 
of  so  strong  a  mind  should  not  better  have 
been  able  to  control  her  heart. 

But  intellect  alone  could  not  satisfy  Julie 
de  Lespinasse.  On  September  1,  1775,  the 
year  before  her  death,  her  fragile  body  already 
reduced  to  a  pitiable  state  by  her  harassed 
mind,  she  thus  wrote  concerning  the  un- 
happy passion  which  had  brought  her  to 
such  a  condition. 

Despising  everything  but  the  happiness  of  loving 
and  of  being  loved,  I  needed  neither  strength  nor  virtue 
to  bear  poverty  and  to  disdain  the  desires  of  vanity.  I 
have  enjoyed  so  much,  I  have  felt  so  deeply  the  value 
of  life,  that,  were  it  to  begin  again,  I  should  wish  it 
might  be  under  the  same  conditions.  To  live  and  to 
suffer,  heaven  and  hell,  this  is  for  what  1  should  live, 

1  November  19,   1773. 


250  The  Salon 

this  is  what  I  should  wish  to  experience,  this  is  the  air 
I  should  wish  to  breathe.1 

Painful  experience  only  strengthened  her 
belief  in  the  virtue  of  love: 

There  is  but  one  single  thing  ...  it  is  love,  for  all 
other  things  remain  without  response.  Consider  am- 
bition, avarice,  love  of  glory  even,  .  .  .  there  is  only 
love,  passionate  love  and  doing  good,  which  appear  to 
me  to  be  worth  the  pain  of  living! 2 

A  woman  who  could  write  such  words  had 
desperate  needs  and,  restrained  from  child- 
hood, forces  as  of  some  primeval,  unreason- 
ing creature  now  captured  and  mastered  the 
clever,  supersensitive,  critical  leader  of  an 
ultra-cultivated  society. 

Two  years  had  passed  by  when  Julie  re- 
ceived news  that  Mora,  whose  health  in 
the  meantime  had  not  improved,  was  re- 
turning to  her.  His  physical  delicacy  had 
prevented  the  confession  which  she  had 
determined  upon,  but  a  change  in  her  letters 
was  evident  and  the  lover,  against  medical 

1  Correspondance  entre  Mademoiselle  dc  Lespinasse  et  le  Comte 
de  Guibert,  par  le  Comte  de  Villeneuve-Guibert,  Paris,  Calmann 
Levy,    1906,  p.  303. 

2  Leitres  Inedites  de  Mademoiselle  de  Lespinasse  a  Condorcet, 
etc.  M.  Charles   Henry,  Paris,   E.  Dentu,   1887,   p.  138. 


Julie  de  Lespinasse  251 

advice,  insisted  on  returning  to  Paris,  but, 
stricken  by  a  mortal  illness,  he  died  on  the 
way,  and  remorse  for  what  she  considered 
her  infidelity  to  him,  added  to  grief  for  his 
death,  which  occurred  at  Bordeaux,  May  27, 
1774,  caused  her  own.  When  the  news  of 
his  death  reached  Paris,  half  distraught,  she 
was  only  prevented  from  killing  herself  by 
Guibert.  After  his  marriage  in  the  following 
year,  stung  alternately  by  remorse  and 
jealousy,  her  health  rapidly  declined  until 
her  death — which  occurred  May  23,  1776, 
at  the  age  of  forty-four, — while  all  the  time 
d'  Alembert,  who  tenderly  watched  over 
her  to  the  last,  was  alike  ignorant  of  her 
wild  passion  for  Guibert  as  of  her  ardent 
love  for  Mora,  and  her  self-revelation  in  her 
letters  shows  with  what  marvellous  skill  and 
self-control  she  must  for  years  have  acted  a 
part. 

D'  Alembert  survived  Julie  seven  years; 
grief  stricken,  they  were  spent  in  mourning; 
no  one  could  rouse  him  from  his  melancholy 
broodings  and  even  his  public  utterances 
contained  pathetic  allusions  to  the  solitude 


252  The  Salon 

to  which  her  death  condemned  him;  his 
room  above  the  unpretentious  apartment 
which  had  been  the  scene  of  so  many 
brilliant  gatherings  and  the  home  of  a  power- 
ful political  party,  was  exchanged  for  the 
attic  in  the  Louvre  to  which  his  post  as  per- 
petual secretary  of  the  Academy  entitled 
him.  The  knowledge  of  the  wasted  passion 
which  her  death  had  brought  to  light  con- 
tinually weighed  upon  him.  "  Why  should 
love,  made  to  lighten  the  ills  of  life  for 
others,  be  the  torment  and  the  despair  of 
yours?"1 

The  loss  of  Julie,  soon  followed  by  that  of 
Madame  Geoffrin,  was,  moreover,  the  signal 
for  the  downfall  of  the  philosophic  party;  it 
had  been  controlled  and  held  in  place  in  these 
salons;  its  decadence  now  began. 

vni 

An  analysis  of  the  mental  constitution  of 
Madame  Du  Deffand  and  of  Julie  de  Les- 
pinasse  shows  that  they  possessed  many 

1  Aux  manes  de  Mademoiselle  de  Lespinasse.  Lettres  de 
Mademoiselle  de  Lespinasse.  Par  Eugene  Asse,  Paris,  Bibliotheque 
Charpentier,  1876,  p.  375. 


Julie  de  Lespinasse  253 

strikingly  similar  features.  Exceptionally 
organised,  remarkable  in  character  as  in  in- 
tellect, beside  them  Madame  d'  Epinay 
appears  wanting  in  force  and  Madame  Geof- 
frin  commonplace.  No  affectation,  no  pre- 
tension is  ever  to  be  found  in  either  Madame 
Du  Deffand  or  Julie.  They  were  both 
distinguished  for  their  simplicity;  both  hated 
eloquence.  Neither  loved  nature  for  itself 
alone,  they  were  too  intensely  subjective 
and  analytical ;  it  was  the  active  exercise 
of  the  mind  which  gave  them  pleasure. 
Each  constantly  aspired  towards  the  ideal 
and  was  as  constantly  disappointed.  Each 
was  extremely  critical,  and  towards  herself 
as  well  as  towards  others.  Each  wished 
passionately  to  be  loved  ;  Madame  Du  Def- 
fand's  asperity  arose  from  this,  for  she 
could  never  wholly  believe  in  any  one. 
Each  felt  the  strain  of  an  intense  nature 
and  Julie  did  not  survive  the  contending 
emotions  which  resulted  from  the  conflict 
between  conscience  and  passion. 

Julie  de  Lespinasse's  love  of  truth  was 
shown    in    her   literary   likings.       It    was 


254  The  Salon 

said  by  the  poet  Dorat,  and  others  of  his 
school,  that  she  not  only  made  Academi- 
cians, but  that  she  also  used  her  influence 
against  those  who  failed  to  please  her,  and 
prevented  their  election.  It  was  easy  for 
those  who  could  not  obtain  a  seat  to  criti- 
cise her  influence  ;  habituated  to  the  best  in 
literature,  she  naturally  turned  toward  large 
ideas  and  great  themes.  Her  judgment  was 
respected,  many  counted  upon  her  advice, 
and  her  discretion  was  absolute.  When 
political  power  finally  fell  into  the  hands 
of  her  friends,  Turgot  and  Malesherbes,  she 
realised  that  the  state  of  affairs  was  such 
that  it  could  not  be  permanently  improved 
and,  as  events  rapidly  unfolded,  she  fore- 
saw that  Turgot,  in  whose  energetic  reforms 
she  passionately  sympathised,  would  be- 
come a  victim  of  his  unselfish  devotion,  and 
she  complained  in  her  letters  of  his  unceas- 
ing toil  and  praised  his  determination  and 
tranquillity. 

"  As  for  me,"  she  wrote  Condorcet,  "  who 
have  neither  his  courage  nor  his  virtues,  I 
am  filled  with  sadness  and  with  terror.     I 


CONDORCET. 
Frina  an  Engraving  by  Levachez. 


Julie  de  Lespinasse  255 

believe  what  I  fear,  and  I  think  of  the  future 
only  with  fright."  This  was  written  in 
May,  1775.  Louis  XVI  had  been  on  the 
throne  a  year,  and  though  she  was  soon 
deploring  his  extravagance,  these  forebod- 
ings, which  the  corn  riots  evoked,  are  fol- 
lowed by  observations  on  the  young  King 
which  call  attention  to  the  hope  placed  in 
him. 

He  showed,  [she  said]  throughout  this  affair 
much  wisdom,  kindness,  and  firmness.  Yesterday  he 
wrote  two  letters  to  M.  Turgot,  which  do  great  hon- 
our to  his  heart  and  mind.  Is  it  not  distressing  to  see 
that  with  a  king  who  wishes  well  and  a  ministry 
which  has  a  passion  for  it,  it  is  evil  which  is  done  and 
that  the  great  part  of  the  public  wish  only  evil  ?' 

Julie,  so  free  in  bestowing  favours,  was 
reluctant  to  ask  for  them.  When  Turgot 
was  taken  ill  her  anxiety  was  great.  "It 
is  a  public  calamity  !  "  she  exclaimed.  She 
had  no  way  of  reaching  him  at  Versailles. 
The  Duchesse  d'  Enville  and  her  son,  the 
Due  de  La  Rochefoucauld,  were  among  her 
most  intimate  friends,  but  she  hesitated  to 

1  Lettres  Inddites  de  Mademoiselle  de  Lespinasse.  M.  Charles 
Henry,  Paris,   E.  Dentu,   1SS7,  p.  149. 


256  The  Salon 

ask  for  a  seat  in  the  coach  of  the  Duchess, 
who  was  driving  out. 

"  I  have  not  dared  ask  for  a  place  of  the 
Duchesse  d'  Enville,"  she  wrote  Condorcet. 
"  I  fear  more  than  anything  to  be  a  charge 
or  a  trouble ;  my  pleasure  will  always  be 
sacrificed  to  this  fear." ' 

Condorcet,  the  philosophical  and  phi- 
lanthropical  Marquis,  her  "bon  Condorcet," 
as  she  half  affectionately,  half  maliciously, 
called  him,  who,  nevertheless,  came  first  in 
her  friendship  after  d'  Alembert,  relied,  as 
well  as  Turgot,  upon  her  counsel  and  shared 
with  d'  Alembert  his  post  as  secretary  when 
she  was  too  ill  to  write.  "  They  are  identi- 
fied with  me ;  they  are  necessary  to  me, 
like  the  air  in  order  to  breathe  ;  they  do 
not  trouble  my  soul,  but  they  fill  it," 
she  wrote  to  Guibert  of  Condorcet  and 
d'  Alembert.  She  was  also  deeply  attached 
to  Suard,  who  gained  his  seat  in  the 
Academy  through  her  efforts  ;  others  among 
her  intimates  were  Devaines,  the   accom- 

1  Lettres  Inedites   de  Mademoiselle  de  Lespinasse.  M.   Charles 
Henry,  Paris,  E.  Dentu,  1 887,  p.  143 


Julie  de  Lespinasse  257 

plished  and  clever  financier,  who  left  her  a 
legacy  ;  the  abbes  Morellet  and  Arnaud,  the 
Chevalier  de  Chastellux,  Saint-Lambert, 
and  Madame  >d'  Houdetot.  Julie  de  Les- 
pinasse well  knew  all  the  delicate  shades, 
all  the  subtleties,  and  differences,  in  friend- 
ship. 

"I  believe  that  I  shall  miss  him  very 
much,"  she  wrote,  when  Caraccioli — the 
popular  Neapolitan  Ambassador, — who  was 
one  of  her  most  devoted  adherents,  was 
about  to  leave  Paris,  "but  he  makes  me 
feel  very  distinctly  the  infinite  difference 
that  there  is  between  the  pleasure  which 
amuses  and  that  which  touches  or  in- 
terests." 

Though  she  fervently  admired  the  English 
constitution  and  was  one  of  the  first  on  either 
side  of  the  Channel  to  appreciate  the  English 
novel,  she  could  not  be  induced  to  visit 
England. 

Have  I  not  yet  told  you  that  I  have  been  pressed, 
solicited,  to  go  to  re-establish  my  health  at  Lord  Shel- 
burne's  ?  Here  is  a  man  of  intellect  ;  here  is  the  chief 
of  the  opposition  ;  here  is  the  friend  of  Sterne  ;  he 


258  The  Salon 

adores  his  works.  See  if  he  ought  not  to  have  the 
greatest  attraction  for  me,  and  if  I  ought  not  to  be 
much  moved  by  his  kind  entreaties.  * 

Lord  Shelburne  passed  the  summer  and 
autumn  of  1774  in  Paris;  he  constantly 
sought  the  society  of  Julie,  who  was  won  by 
his  enthusiastic  temperament  and  public 
spirit.  Unlike  most  of  her  reforming  friends, 
who  were  drawn  toward  Catherine  II  by 
her  powerful  personality,  as  well  as  by  her 
benefits,  Julie  looked  upon  the  Empress  with 
aversion,  as  the  representative  of  despotism. 

"  What  will  you  see  there  ?  "  she  wrote 
Guibert  on  his  way  to  St.  Petersburg. 
"You  will  see  that  which  your  soul  de- 
tests, slavery  and  tyranny,  debasement  and 
insolence." 

Julie  de  Lespinasse  was  termed  the  Sap- 
pho of  her  time.  And  not  without  cause,  for 
she  was  the  centre  of  a  brilliant  circle  of  intel- 
lects and  a  leader  in  the  philosophical  school 
and,  like  Sappho,  her  school  dwindled  away, 
bereft  of  her  influence.    She  was,  however, 

1  Lettres  de  Mademoiselle  de  Lespinasse  to  Guibert,  par  Eu- 
gene Asse,  Paris,  Bibliotheque  Charpentier,  1876,  p.  122. 


Julie  de  Lespinasse  259 

the  intellectual  Sappho  of  the  kindlier  crit- 
ics, for  though  her  heart  was  divided  between 
two  passions  in  the  last  years  of  her  life,  it 
was  unwillingly,  and  her  love  for  Guibert 
was  chiefly  the  result  of  her  affection  for 
Mora ;  deprived  by  absence  and  then  by 
death  of  him,  she  felt  a  desperate  need  of 
sympathy  and  solace,  and  it  was  from  Gui- 
bert that  she  hoped  to  receive  it.  Men  and 
women  of  strong  feelings  do  not  play  at  love, 
and  Julie  de  Lespinasse  was  utterly  devoid 
of  coquetry.  Passionate  in  everything  yet, 
such  was  the  justness,  the  delicacy,  the  ex- 
quisiteness  of  her  taste,  she  was  always  ele- 
gant, always  refined,  always  dignified. 

Women  were  just  as  warm  in  their  admi- 
ration of  Julie  de  Lespinasse  as  men,  though 
their  devotion  was  often  rather  tolerated  than 
returned.  The  friendship  of  the  Duchesse  de 
Chatillon  rose  indeed  to  a  veritable  passion 
and  she  never  ceased  to  mourn  Julie's  early 
death.  Julie  sharply  criticised  the  shallow- 
ness of  the  lives  of  women  in  general  among 
the  upper  classes,  lamenting  their  love  of  ad- 
miration and  the  pettiness  of  their  aims,  and 


260  The  Salon 

she  often  expressed  the  opinion  that  the  ma- 
jority, ruled  by  vanity  and  ambition,  wished 
to  be  preferred,  not  loved;  but,  provided  they 
had  wit  or  understanding,  women  were  wel- 
comed in  her  salon  as  cordially  as  men.  Julie 
de  Lespinasse  could  be  jealous  but  she  was 
never  selfish.  She  attracted  persons  not 
only  to  herself,  but  to  each  other,  when  in 
her  company.  "We  all  felt  ourselves  to  be 
friends  when  with  her,"  wrote  Guibert.1 

Madame  Du  Deffand's  letters  have  been 
ranked  with  those  of  Madame  de  Sevigne, 
as  models  ;  like  those  of  her  epistolary  rival 
they  are  addressed  to  a  wide  circle  and  the 
letters  of  both  are  the  products  of  their 
periods.  Julie  de  Lespinasse  had  also  a  large 
correspondence,  though  her  literary  remains 
are  limited  to  her  letters  to  Guibert,  a  few  to 
Condorcet,  and  sqme  scattered  writings. 
Her  correspondence  with  Guibert,  of  the 
most  private  nature,  intended  for  his  eye 
alone,  is  entirely  free  in  matter  and  form,  and 
is  the  spontaneous    expression  of  an  ex- 

1  Eloges  d' Eliza.  Lettres  de  Mademoiselle  de  Lespinasse,  par 
Eugene  Asse,      Paris,  Bibliotheque  Charpentier,  1876,  p.  364. 


Julie  de  Lespinasse  261 

ceptional  mental  condition.  Vibrating  with 
the  fervour  and  exaltation  of  an  extraordi- 
nary passion,  they  place  her  among  the 
greatest  emotional  writers,  with  Sappho  and 
Heloi'se.  They  never  fail  in  admirable  pro- 
priety of  expression  ;  no  offensive  word— so 
frequent  in  the  writing  of  the  time — mars 
these  brilliant  pages,  and  they  are  exempt 
from  the  stiltedness  and  artificiality  which 
in  general  marked  the  English  letter  writer. 
She  comes  in  point  of  time  between  Fanny 
Burney  and  Jane  Austen  but,  not  of  one 
epoch  any  more  than  of  one  place,  she 
owes  nothing  to,  neither  is  she  limited  by, 
her  environment ;  like  all  masterpieces,  her 
letters  might  have  been  written  in  any  period 
of  history,  or  in  any  country,  and  they  are 
singularly  free  from  the  wordy  exaggeration 
which  characterises  the  time  in  which  she 
lived.  There  is,  no  doubt,  some  monotony 
about  them  due  to  their  subjective  personal 
nature,  repetitions  on  the  same  unhappy 
theme  following  each  other  in  harassing 
reiteration;  disappointed  love,  unsatisfied 
longing,  remorse,  despair.   These  are thekey- 


262  The  Salon 

notes  of  the  letters  to  Guibert.  Those  to 
Condorcet  are  of  a  wholly  different  character. 
Here  there  is  no  blighting  passion  but,  in  its 
place,  the  liveliest  expression  of  a  singularly 
tender  and  devoted  friendship.  Solicitude 
for  his  manners — where  she  finds  plenty  to 
correct — vies  with  concern  for  his  health,  and 
for  the  health  of  Turgot  concerning  which 
each  felt  anxious. 

Subjective  writing  does  not  offer  readers 
much  fact  to  build  upon,  though  some  allu- 
sions now  and  then  disclose  fleeting  glimpses 
of  her  life — dinners  at  ambassadors'  or  at  min- 
isters', or  of  d'  Alembert  with  her  at  Madame 
Geoffrin's.  Music  naturally  appealed  to  such 
a  temperament,  and  in  the  war  which  was 
being  waged  between  the  different  schools, 
it  was  her  instinct  for  the  passionate  which 
was  always  her  guide,  though,  too  just  to 
give  way  to  prejudice,  she  openly  expressed 
an  admiration  for  Gretry,  the  rival  of 
Gliick,  whom  she  preferred.  "But,"  she 
exclaimed,"  how  can  that  which  pleases  be 
compared  to  that  which  fills  the  soul  ?  " 

Reflective  and  clear-sighted,  her  judgments 


Julie  de  Lespinasse  263 

pierced  beneath  the  surface.  "  I  take  inten- 
tions into  account  as  others  take  actions,  "she 
wrote.  Her  contemporaries,  from  whom  her 
passionate  nature  was  so  largely  concealed, 
yet  realised  something  of  its  intensity  and 
power.  "  The  keenest  intelligence,  the  most 
ardent  soul,  the  most  inflammable  imagina- 
tion which  has  existed  since  Sappho,  "wrote 
Marmontel.  "  Born  with  nerves,  prodigi- 
ously sensible,"  said  Grimm. 

Julie  de  Lespinasse  will  probably  have 
greater  attraction  for  the  readers  of  to-day 
than  any  other  of  the  distinguished  French- 
women of  the  eighteenth  century,  for  her 
letters,  with  their  accent  of  despair,  have 
given  her  a  very  human  interest.  They 
emphasise  the  fact  that  the  brilliancy  of  the 
salons  hid  dissatisfied  hearts,  and  that,  as  I 
have  pointed  out  in  other  papers,  there  was, 
amidst  all  the  intellectual  and  social  vivacity 
of  the  salons,  an  undercurrent  of  endeavour 
arousing  the  women  who  adorned  them  to 
break  with  the  artificiality,  the  bonds,  and 
the  forms  by  which  natural  and  simple  de- 
velopment was  hindered.     The  marvellous 


264  The  Salon 

social  success  which  Julie  de  Lespinasse 
achieved  did  not  satisfy  her,  it  was  external 
only ;  her  very  success  seemed  to  make 
more  necessary  a  purely  human  sympathy, 
and  the  revelation  of  herself  in  her  letters 
adds  that  touch  of  nature  which  makes  the 
whole  world  kin,  and  gives  the  reader  that 
sense  of  companionship  and  sympathy 
which  makes  her  live  again  who  would 
otherwise  be  a  mere  historical  figure. 

She,  it  is  true,  is  not  so  exactly  character- 
istic of  the  age  as  gentle  Madame  d'Epinay, 
clever  Madame  Geoffrin,  or  perhaps  auto- 
cratic Madame  Du  Deffand,  but  she  ex- 
emplifies more  than  any  other  of  the  leaders 
of  society  in  eighteenth-century  Paris  the 
power  which  so  many  women  then  pos- 
sessed of  attracting  and  influencing  men,  for 
she  had  neither  riches,  rank,  nor  beauty,  yet 
her  charm  could  bend  to  her  will  the  savant 
and  the  gallant ;  the  devotion  of  her  friends 
was  not  limited  by  age  or  calling,  for  she 
united  in  an  extraordinary  degree  mental 
power  and  emotional  passion,  checked  and 
made    more  attractive  by  an  inborn  tact 


Julie  de  Lespinasse  265 

which  had  been  cultivated  till  it  amounted 
to  genius,  and  she  will  remain  a  conspicuous 
and  a  pathetic  figure  among  the  extraordi- 
nary group  of  French  women  who  are  de- 
scribed comprehensively  as  the  women  of 
the  salons. 


MADAME  GEOFFRIN 

1699.  Birth  of  Marie  Therese  Rodet,  afterward  Ma- 
dame Geoffrin. 

1 7 13.     Marriage. 

171 5.  Birth  of  daughter,  afterward  the  Marquise  de 
la  Ferte-Imbault. 

1730.  Beginning  of  connection  with  the  Marquise  de 
Tencin. 

1737.     Salon  opened. 

1749.  Death  of  Monsieur  Geoffrin.  Death  of  Madame 
de  Tencin.     Salon  enlarged. 

1777.     Death. 


266 


MADAME  GEOFFRIN 


\J[  ADAME  GEOFFRIN  is  one  of  the  most 
*  representative  figures  and  forms  one 
of  the  most  interesting  studies  of  the  extra- 
ordinarily changing  age,  and  its  antagonistic 
elements,  in  which  she  lived.  The  old  re- 
gime and  the  new  ideas,  rank  and  poverty, 
intellect  and  fashion,  were  mingled  in  her 
salon  in  seeming  confusion  and  yet  in  a 
perfect  harmony  which  cannot  be  realised 
unless  we  understand  both  her  personality 
and  the  society  over  which  she  ruled. 

Any  study  of  the  salon  of  Madame  Geof- 
frin  should  be  prefaced,  however,  by  a 
sketch  of  another,  that  of  Madame  de  Ten- 
cin,  for  the  one  would  never  have  ex- 
isted without  the  other.  Not  that  the  two 
women  were  alike;  except  that  each  pos- 
sessed   boundless   ambition    and    unfailing 

267 


268  The  Salon 

persistency  in  the  pursuit  of  her  aims,  no 
c\vo  persons  could  well  be  more  dissimilar. 

The  Marquise  de  Tencin  is  as  remarkable 
a  personality  as  any  one  of  the  leaders  of 
the  salons  from  Madame  de  Rambouillet  to 
Madame  Necker,  though  it  is  the  worst 
phase  of  her  age,  as  well  as  its  intelli- 
gence, which  she  exemplifies.  In  her  is 
seen,  in  unparalleled  measure,  the  clever, 
bold,  unprincipled,  designing  woman  of  the 
world,  who  stops  at  nothing;  for  whom 
the  time  of  the.  Regent  and  Louis  XV  was 
a  golden  age,  and  in  which  she  was 
at  once  the  most  seductive  and  the  most 
dangerous.1 

One  cannot  but  compare  her  with  Ma- 
dame Geoffrin  who,  on  the  contrary,  made 
much  of  all  the  substantial  virtues  and 
whose  life,  which  was  contemporaneous 
with  that  of  Louis  XV,  and  passed,  there- 
fore, in  the  most  dissolute  and  decrepit  age 
of  French  history,  and  amidst  surroundings 
the  most  unsettling  to  beliefs  and  morals, 

i   Le  Royaume  de  la  rue  Saint-Honore,    par  Pierre  de  Segur, 
Paris,  Calmann  Levy,    1898,  p.  23. 


4 


Madame  Geoffrin 

From  the  painting  attributed  to  Chard  in,  in  the  Louvre 

(By  permission  of  Braun,  Clement  &  Co.) 


Madame  Geoffrin  269 

could,  nevertheless,  be  cited,  in  any  age,  as 
a  model  of  decorum.  The  Church,  like 
the  Court,  presented  a  spectacle  of  laxity 
and  venality  which  was  without  example, 
and  the  philosophers,  who  denounced  the 
one  and  the  other,  were  Madame  Geoffrin's 
chosen  companions,  yet  she  remained  stoutly 
loyal  to  existing  conditions,  always  ex- 
acting respect  for  the  prescribed  law  and 
order — in  form,  at  least — even  from  these 
iconoclasts. 

Madame  de  Tencin  was  born  in  1681  and 
belongs,  in  period  as  in  character,  to  the 
Regency.  A  nun  who  broke  her  vows,  a 
canoness  who  forsook  her  charge,  a  mother 
who  abandoned  her  child,  a  fine  lady  who 
was  suspected  to  have  connived  at  the 
murder  of  a  troublesome  lover,  Madame  de 
Tencin  played  a  double  part  from  the  begin- 
ning to  the  end  of  her  life,  for  she  practised 
deceit  to  its  greatest  lengths.  The  poet 
Matthew  Prior,  when  connected  with  the 
English  embassy  in  Paris,  was  one  of  her 
first  conquests;  at  another  time  she  exerted 
all  her  uncommon  fascinations  of  mind  and 


270  The  Salon 

body  to  bend  the  Duke  of  Orleans  himself 
to  her  will,  as  she  had  done  with  many 
another,  but  the  Regent,  though  licentious 
and  extravagant,  still  had  his  own  standard 
of  conduct,  and  was  not  wanting  in  clever- 
ness, and  his  favourites,  however  far  they 
might  lure  him  from  the  paths  of  rectitude, 
were  never  permitted  to  interfere  in  politics. 
On  making  this  discovery,  the  Marquise, 
disappointed — her  whole  purpose  in  these 
undertakings  being  political, — turned  her  at- 
tention to  Cardinal  Dubois,  from  whom  she 
hoped  to  gain  more  than  had  been  vouch- 
safed by  the  Duke.  She  complaisantly 
descended  therefore  from  master  to  minis- 
ter, and  with  considerable  success,  for  her 
brother,  in  whose  interest  she  was  working 
and  for  whom  she  gained  the  Cardinal's 
hat,  Dubois  soon  discovered  to  be  worth 
cultivating  for  his  own  sake. 

In  her  youth  Madame  de  Tencin  was  very 
pretty  and  she  made  the  most  of  her  physi- 
cal charms  in  gaining  control  of  men.  But 
the  waning  of  beauty  with  the  passing  of 
years  necessitated  a  change  of  tactics,  and 


Madame  Geoffrin  271 

she  corrected  her  manner  of  living,  relying 
upon  her  intellectual  gifts  alone  to  maintain 
her  power.  Her  private  life  was  henceforth 
one  of  the  utmost  propriety,  being  devoted 
to  her  salon,  to  her  correspondence — in 
which  Pope  Benedict  XIV  figures, — and  to 
writing  clever,  sentimental  tales,  where 
again  the  contradictory  element  in  her  char- 
acter appears,  for  in  these  pages  virtue  and 
honour,  aspiration,  devotion  and  self-sacri- 
fice are  given  the  first  place.  In  her  salon 
she  seemed  at  first,  to  the  ordinary  observer, 
the  simple,  accomplished  housewife,  always 
on  the  alert,  first  for  the  comfort  and  then 
for  the  interests  of  her  guests.  "  She  knew 
my  tastes  and  always  offered  those  dishes  I 
preferred,"  sighed  Fontenelle,  when  she 
died. 

But  simplicity  and  amiability  were  merely 
manner,  pretensions  to  qualities  which  she 
did  not  possess  but  which  served  as  a  cloak 
to  her  astuteness  and  to  the  workings  of  a 
quick  and  powerful  mind,  for  Madame  de 
Tencin  was  keen  and  sound  in  her  judg- 
ment, a  woman  in  whom  head  took  the 


272  The  Salon 

place  of  heart.  Finesse  and  flattery,  the  suc- 
cess of  which  she  openly  and  contemptu- 
ously boasted,  were  the  arms  to  which  she 
trusted. 

She  united,  said  Duclos,  who  was  one  of 
her  intimates,  all  the  different  kinds  of  intel- 
lect, but  she  loved  action  and  politics 
better  than  meditation  and  writing,  and  best 
enjoyed  making  use  of  the  faculty  which  she 
possessed  for  directing  affairs  for  the  benefit 
of  her  friends,  being  particular  neither  in  the 
object  to  be  gained  nor  the  means  employed. 
Madame  de  Tencingave  her  friends  two  din- 
ners a  week  and  two  yards  of  velvet  every 
New  Year's  day,  besides  sparing  no  pains  to 
gain  those  more  substantial  favours  which 
intrigue  alone  could  bring  about.  She  was 
the  exploiter  of  Madame  de  Pompadour  who, 
by  her  advice,  was  trained,  from  childhood, 
in  such  arts  as  would  attract  the  King.  Ma- 
dame de  la  Popeliniere,  the  wife  of  the  fa- 
mous financier,  also  owed  her  rise  in  social 
status  to  Madame  de  Tencin's  efforts';  Mon- 
sieur de  la  Popeliniere  had  no  idea  of  marry- 
ing the  fascinating  actress  but  Madame  de 


Madame  GeorTrin  273 

Tencin,  to  whom  she  appealed,  through  her 
influence  atCourt  forced  him  to  do  so.  Louis 
XV,  however,  warned  by  Fleury  against  the 
intriguing  Cardinal  and  his  sister,  took  a 
violent  antipathy  to  Madame  de  Tencin;  her 
very  name,  he  said,  made  his  flesh  creep. 

If  Madame  de  Tencin  had  no  other  claim 
to  fame  she  would  still  be  a  personage  as  the 
mother  of  d'  Alembert.  The  story  runs  that 
she  waited  until  he  became  famous  before 
she  would  acknowledge  their  connection  and 
that  when,  at  last,  she  sent  for  the  celebrated 
philosopher,  and  told  him  that  he  was  her 
son,  he  replied  that  only  the  good  woman 
who  had  brought  him  up  had  any  claim  to  be 
his  mother.  It  is  unlikely,  however,  that 
Madame  de  Tencin  ever  troubled  herself 
about  d'  Alembert  living,  as  she  left  him 
nothing  at  her  death. 

Like  her  contemporaries  Madame  de  Ten- 
cin must  be  judged  by  the  standard  of  her 
time,  when  preferments  were,  as  a  rule,  to  be 
obtained  only  through  intrigue,  when  abuses 
and  scandals  flourished  openly  in  public  and 
private  life,  when  the  fear  of  offending  taste 


274  The  Salon 

alone  was  recognised  as  any  restraint  on  con- 
duct and  when,  in  the  pursuit  of  pleasure, 
men  and  women  attempted  to  drown  their 
dissatisfaction  in  the  present  and  their  fore- 
bodings in  regard  to  the  future.  But  her  con- 
temporaries do  not  excuse  Madame  de 
Tencin.  "  She  was  born,"  writes  Madame  Du 
Deffand,  "with  the  most  fascinating  qualities 
and  the  most  abominable  defects  that  God 
ever  gave  to  one  of  his  creatures. "  With  the 
exception  of  Madame  Geoffrin  and  of  Mad- 
emoiselle Aisse,  who  was  under  the  protec- 
tion of  Madame  de  Tencin's  sister,  Madame 
de  Ferriol,  no  women  are  ever  mentioned  in 
connection  with  her  salon.  Had  Madame 
de  Tencin,  however,  been  altogether  evil,  she 
could  never  have  gathered  about  her  such 
men  as  the  fastidious  Fontenelle,  who,  after 
the  death  of  the  irreproachable  Marquise 
de  Lambert,  found  solace  in  her  salon,  or 
Mairan,  the  celebrated  geometrician  and 
physician,  or  Montesquieu,  who  here  found 
inspiration  for  his  great  works.  Bolingbroke 
and  Lord  Chesterfield  were  also  among  her 
assiduous  frequenters. 


Madame  Geoffrin  275 

Of  such  a  character  were  her  visitors.  And 
the  change  in  thought  which  led  to  the 
Revolution  may  be  traced  particularly  to 
this  salon  where  liberty  of  thought  and 
speech — and  this  was  wherein  lay  the  se- 
cret of  the  power  of  the  salons — was  given 
full  vent,  for  she  encouraged  discussion  and 
loved  learning  in  all  its  branches.  I  have  said 
she  was  heartless,  but  she  was  passionately 
fond  of  her  brother,  the  Cardinal  de  Tencin, 
who  was  as  wicked  as  herself,  and  it  was 
for  him  she  risked  her  soul's  salvation  since, 
depraved  as  were  the  times,  the  Church 
still  had  a  strong  hold  on  most  minds. 
Never  rich,  she  yet  never  exerted  herself  to 
obtain  money  unless  it  were  required  for  her 
brother's  ambitious  schemes.  She  was  an 
excellent  friend  when  to  be  so  did  not  cross 
her  own  designs,  losing  no  opportunity  to 
help  those  she  liked  ;  she  piqued  herself, 
indeed,  on  being  a  good  friend  and  a  bad 
enemy. 

As  time  went  on,  poor  in  purse  and  weak 
in  health,  Madame  de  Tencin  cast  about  for 
some  one  who  could  contribute  to  her  fail- 


276  The  Salon 

ing  resources  and  act  as  an  auxiliary  in  her 
salon.  A  young  woman  who  answered  all 
her  requirements  was  close  at  hand.  Pretty, 
pious,  intelligent,  well-mannered,  beneath 
her  in  station — which  would  make  her  easy 
to  manage, — and  with  a  prosperous  old  hus- 
band conveniently  in  the  background,  in 
Madame  Geoffrin  this  astute  woman  found, 
in  fact,  without  pay,  the  support  which 
Madame  Du  Deffand  at  the  same  period 
of  her  life  sought  in  Mademoiselle  de 
Lespinasse. 

And,  until  her  death,  nineteen  years  later, 
in  1749,  their  co-operation  worked  as  well 
as  one  could  wish  though,  perhaps,  like  the 
protege  of  the  other,  this  one  also  suc- 
ceeded better  than  was  liked;  Madame 
Geoffrin  equally  attracted  the  choicest  of 
the  company  to  herself,  the  nucleus  of  the 
salon  which  was  destined  to  become  even 
more  celebrated  than  that  from  which  it 
sprung.  Always  good  at  prophecy,  as  her 
end  drew  near  and  Madame  Geoffrin  grew 
even  more  attentive,  Madame  de  Tencin 
would  cynically  say  to  her  intimates,  "Do 


Madame  GeofTrin  277 

you  know  why  she  comes  ?  It  is  to  see 
what  she  can  gather  from  my  succession." 

At  Madame  de  Tencin's  death  Madame 
Geoffrin  was  fifty,  but  a  few  words  must  be 
given  to  her  early  life  before  studying  the 
salon  which  is  associated  with  her  name. 


11 


Marie  Th£rese  Rodet,  afterward  Madame 
Geoffrin,  was  born  in  Paris,  June  2,  1699. 
Her  father  had  been  a  valet  de  chambre  in 
the  service  of  the  Dauphiness.  Her  mother, 
the  daughter  of  a  banker,  was  a  woman  of 
superior  talents.  Both  parents  shortly  died 
leaving  her  and  an  infant  son  to  the  care  of 
the  maternal  grandmother,  Madame  Chemi- 
neau,  who  had  decided  and  singular  ideas 
on  education  and  who  undertook  to  put  her 
quixotic  theories  into  practice  in  the  case  of 
her  granddaughter. 

Madame  Chemineau  rightly  believed  that 
ability  was  certain  to  assert  itself  and  that, 
without  it,  education  was  but  a  disagree- 
able make-believe  which,    in   its  ordinary 


278  The  Salon 

acceptation,  stifled  originality.  Only  that 
which  was  natural  could  be  agreeable  or 
was  right.  It  will  thus  be  seen  that  Ma- 
dame Chemineau  was  in  advance  of  her  time 
and  that,  in  her  philosophy,  she  forestalled 
Rousseau. 

Therese,  as  she  was  called,  had,  there- 
fore, no  masters,  but  she  was  given  books 
and  taught  to  express  her  ideas  concerning 
them.  But  this  method,  however  far  her 
intelligence  may  have  been  awakened  by 
it,  had  its  drawbacks,  and  she  found  herself 
a  good  deal  handicapped,  later  in  life,  from 
want  of  knowledge  of  the  simplest  tools  of 
speech,  as  well  as  of  any  kind  of  precise 
learning.  Character,  at  all  events,  was 
assiduously  cultivated,  for  Madame  Chemi- 
neau spared  no  pains  to  inculcate  in  her 
granddaughter  her  own  high-minded,  if  in- 
dependent, manner  of  thinking.  "  My  inner 
life,"  Madame  Geoffrin  wrote  to  Catherine 
of  Russia,  in  1765,  "  was  as  visible  to  her  as 
my  outward  life;  everything  was  a  subject 
of  instruction;  my  education  was  continual." 
Devout,  in  spite  of  some  radical  ideas,  and 


Madame  Geoffrin  279 

a  strict  disciplinarian,  Madame  Chemineau 
was  particular  in  all  the  practices  of  the 
Church,  which  she  attended  every  day,  and 
it  was  there  that  the  young  girl  attracted 
the  attention  of  her  future  husband. 

The  leaders  of  the  salons,  to  judge  by 
their  portraits,  were,  more  often  than  not, 
despite  the  picturesque,  if  unbecoming, 
dress  of  the  time,  decidedly  plain,  if  not 
ugly,  women.  Madame  Geoffrin,  however, 
was  an  exception  to  the  rule,  though,  by  the 
time  she  arrived  at  celebrity,  she  had  lost 
the  fresh  colour  of  youth  and  the  serene, 
nun-like  quality  of  the  beauty  which  had 
distinguished  her  girlhood.  It  was  an  air 
of  gentleness,  aloofness,  and  simplicity  as 
well  as  her  large  blue  eyes  and  purity  of 
complexion  that  won  Monsieur  Geoffrin's 
heart;  had  he  been  able  to  pierce  the  fu- 
ture and  behold  the  imperious  figure  which 
the  unfolding  of  the  chrysalis  brought  forth, 
the  marriage — which  was  celebrated  July  14, 
171 3 — ^would  assuredly  never  have  taken 
place. 

The  bride  was  fourteen,  the  bridegroom 


280  The  Salon 

forty-eight,  but  the  disparity  in  years  was 
more  than  counterbalanced  in  the  opinion 
of  the  worldly-wise  by  the  substantial  char- 
acter of  the  groom,  who  was  a  rich  manu- 
facturer and  much  considered  in  the  parish. 
The  house — a  legacy  from  a  former  marriage 
— to  which  Monsieur  Geoffrin  took  his  young 
wife  was  her  home  for  the  rest  of  her  life. 
It  still  stands  on  the  rue  Saint  Honore,  nearly 
opposite  the  chapel  of  the  Assumption. 

The  interval  between  the  marriage  of 
Madame  Geoffrin  and  the  beginning  of 
her  relations  with  Madame  de  Tencin  was 
spent  in  the  usual  manifold  and  prosaic 
details  with  which  the  bonrgeoise  of  the 
period  busied  herself;  a  diligent  and  care- 
ful housewife,  an  orderly  and  economi- 
cal domestic  system  was  rigidly  enforced. 
The  daughter  born  two  years  after  her 
marriage  became  celebrated  later  as  the 
somewhat  eccentric  Madame  de  la  Ferte- 
Imbault.  The  care  of  her  family  and  close 
attention  to  church  duties  completely  filled 
the  remainder  of  these  physically  active 
and  mentally  tranquil  days. 


Madame  Geoffrin  281 

Such  was  her  life  and  environment  when, 
at  thirty-one,  Madame  Geoffrin,  without 
warning,  turned,  to  her  husband's  dismay, 
completely  aside  from  these  homely  and 
amiable  occupations  and  entered  into  a  con- 
nection which  took  her  from  home,  and 
whose  influence  was  soon  felt  in  his  quiet 
house,  where  persons  quite  unknown  to 
Monsieur  Geoffrin  were  entertained  with 
unheard-of  extravagance.  It  was  plain  that 
the  happy  obscurity  in  which  he  thought  he 
was  comfortably  established  for  the  rest  of 
his  days  was  seriously  threatened.  And 
Madame  Geoffrin,  whose  thought,  activity, 
and  experience  had  hitherto  been  confined 
to  domestic  concerns  and  devotional  exer- 
cises, received,  except  from  his  purse,  no 
help  from  her  husband  in  this  new  career 
which  no  sooner  suggested  itself  than  it 
was  fully  determined  upon.  On  the  contrary, 
Monsieur  Geoffrin,  now  an  elderly  man,  did 
not  at  all  relish  this  interruption  in  his  private 
life.  Both  by  nature  and  principle,  he  heartily 
disliked  and  feared  his  wife's  clever  and  free- 
thinking  friends,  and  was  therefore  strongly 


282  The  Salon 

opposed  to  this  extraordinary  departure. 
But  the  wife  possessed  the  master  mind, 
and  the  husband  soon  saw  his  remonstrances 
and  himself  equally  put  aside  and  that  he 
must  accommodate  himself  as  best  he  might 
to  his  altered  circumstances.  Peace  did  not 
at  once  descend  upon  the  house.  For  a  few 
years  Monsieur  Geoffrin  kept  up  a  useless 
struggle  and  scenes  of  a  violent  character  en- 
sued whenever  his  wife  demanded  money. 
Finally,  however,  he  succumbed  to  her 
stronger  will  and,  in  later  years,  a  silent, 
unconsidered  figure,  a  stranger  to  most  of 
the  company,  who  sat  at  Madame  Geoffrin's 
well-filled  table  and  conscientiously  served 
her  large  parties,  was  the  only  visible  evi- 
dence of  Monsieur  Geoffrin.  One  of  her 
friends  inquiring,  after  an  absence,  what 
had  become  of  the  old  man  who  always  sat 
at  the  foot  of  the  table  and  who  never  said 
anything,  she  shortly  replied  :  "It  was  my 
husband;  he  is  dead."  Madame  de  la  Ferte- 
Imbault  left  one  of  those  pen  portraits,  so 
much  in  vogue  at  the  time,  of  Madame  Geof- 
frin.   Written  long  after  her  father's  death, 


Madame  Geoffrin  283 

it  thus  refers  to  his  subjugation  :  "She  had 
a  husband  of  ordinary  understanding  but 
rare  by  reason  of  his  gothic  virtues  and  by 
the  goodness  of  his  heart.  She  kept  him 
always  in  fear  in  order  to  exercise  her  talent 
for  conquest." 

Madame  Geoffrin  was  delivered  in  the 
same  year  from  her  politic,  suspicious  pa- 
troness and  from  the  grumbling,  parsimoni- 
ous nonentity — so  at  least  it  would  seem  he 
appeared  to  her — who  went  by  the  name  of 
her  husband,  and  she  succeeded  without 
further  question,  as  was  foretold  by  the 
shrewd  Marquise,  to  the  salon  of  the  one  as 
well  as  to  the  possessions  of  the  other. 

As  for  the  former  she  had  surely  earned 
some  reward  for  she  had  served  a  long  ap- 
prenticeship. A  beautiful  woman  of  thirty- 
one  when  Madame  de  Tencin  befriended  her, 
at  her  death  she  was  fifty,  had  laid  aside  all 
pretensions  to  youth  and  beauty,  and  put 
on  instead  the  cap  which  distinguished  the 
elderly  woman.  Far  from  regretting  the 
passing  of  youth  with  its  agitations,  she,  on 
the  other  hand,  welcomed  the  appearance  of 


284  The  Salon 

age  with  its  promise  of  complete  tranquillity. 
Like  Madame  de  Lambert,  Madame  Geoffrin 
was  afraid  of  the  emotions,  and  she  carefully 
suppressed  any  which  may  have  been  natural 
to  her  lest  some  unwonted  pull  at  the  heart- 
strings might  trouble  her  repose. 

To  this  excessive  shrinking  from  any  dis- 
turbance to  her  peace  of  mind  is  due  the 
phenomenon  of  a  woman  anticipating  more 
happiness  for  the  sober  decline  of  life  than 
for  the  less  temperate  period  of  youth,  and 
making  haste  to  become  old. 

She  did  not  agree,  she  wrote  her  friend 
Lady  Hervey,  in  one  of  her  characteristic 
letters  filled  with  sound  sense  and  worldly 
wisdom,  with  La  Rochefoucauld,  that  old 
age  was  a  tyrant  to  be  dreaded.  "  Yes,  for 
the  foolish.  But  for  the  sensible  I  say  that 
he  is  a  wise  governor  who  deprives  us  with- 
out effort,  and  before  one  is  aware  of  it,  of 
the  taste  for  pleasures  which  are  no  longer 
suitable."1 

The  sober  garb  which  Diderot  so  much 

1  Archives  of  the  d'  Estampes  family.      Cited   by  the   Marquis  de 
Segur.    Le  Royaume  de  la  rue  Saint  Honore,  p.  98. 


Madame  Geoffrin  285 

admired  and  which  he  describes  in  a  letter 
to  Mademoiselle  Volland  was  therefore  early 
assumed:  "  I  always  remark  the  noble  and 
simple  taste  of  her  dress.  It  was,  this  day, 
a  plain  stuff  of  dark  colour,  with  large 
sleeves,  the  linen  the  smoothest  and  finest, 
and  then  of  the  most  exquisite  freshness." 
It  must  be  said  that  society  in  France  did 
not  view  old  age  or  ill  health  in  the  same 
light  in  which  it  was  regarded  in  England, 
and  neither  in  the  least  prevented  the  utmost 
social  activity  and  interest  as  long  as  life 
lasted.  Horace  Walpole,  who  crossed  the 
Channel  for  the  first  time  in  the  autumn  of 
1765,  and  who  was  confined  to  his  room  in 
Paris  for  the  greater  part  of  the  winter  by  a 
bad  attack  of  gout,  where  he  was  visited  and 
alternately  petted  and  scolded  by  Madame 
Geoffrin,  wrote  George  Selwyn  :  "  It  is  the 
country  in  the  world  to  be  sick  and  to  grow 
old  in.  .  .  .  Young  people  I  conclude 
there  are,  but  where  they  exist  I  don't  guess  ; 
not  that  I  complain.  It  is  charming  to  totter 
into  vogue."1    And    so   sensible    Madame 

1  Letters  of  Horace  Walpole.    Dec.  2,  1765.    Ed.Toynbee,  vi.,  p.  3O7. 


286  The  Salon 

Geoffrin  who,  moreover,  as  I  have  already 
noted,  practised  the  cult  of  the  contented 
mind,  was  quite  satisfied  with  the  manner  in 
which  she  had  arranged  her  life. 

And  the  sincerity  of  her  statements  was 
constantly  proved.  A  flattering  proposal  of 
marriage  at  this  time  was  met  by  the  reply  : 
"I  am  quite  content  with  my  society,  with 
my  situation,  and  with  my  name." 

Madame  Geoffrin  had  not  long  attained 
to  a  salon  of  her  own  at  this  time  though, 
since  1737,  an  overflow  which  had  con- 
stantly increased  in  numbers  and  impor- 
tance, from  Madame  de  Tencin's  gatherings, 
had  been  accustomed  to  meet  at  her  house 
on  Wednesdays.  After  Monsieur  Geoffrin's 
death,  however,  and  that  of  Madame  de 
Tencin,  Madame  Geoffrin  came  forward  as 
a  daring  innovator  and  displayed  the  in- 
dependence and  originality  of  her  mind  by 
enlarging  her  coterie,  which  had  hitherto 
been  solely  literary,  through  the  introduc- 
tion of  painters,  sculptors,  and  musicians, 
whom  she  received  on  Mondays  and  enter- 
tained at  her  artist  dinners. 


Madame  Geoffrin  287 

Purely  artistic  merit  had  never  received 
such  attention  in  a  salon  before  and  the 
novel  and  varied  character  which  Madame 
Geoffrin  by  this  means  imparted  to  hers, 
attracted  general  attention.  Distinguished 
strangers  begged  for  introductions  and 
princes,  ambassadors,  and  the  entire  dip- 
lomatic circle  flocked  to  her  house  asking  to 
be  received  on  the  same  simple  footing 
as  other  guests.  Therefore  to  the  literary 
salon  with  its  narrow  confines,  strict  canons, 
and  somewhat  colourless  lines,  Madame 
Geoffrin  added  an  artistic  element  which, 
together  with  the  foreign  group,  gave  to  her 
salon  a  rich  and  cosmopolitan  character. 

The  celebrity  of  the  personage  who  has 
come  down  to  us  as  the  director  of  the 
salon  which  attracted  the  most  attention  in 
Europe,  dates  from  this  time,  when  Madame 
Geoffrin  suddenly  assumed  that  supreme 
position  in  society  which  she  never  lost, 
when  a  King  called  her  by  the  familiar  and 
endearing  title  of  "Maman." 

And  so  she  was  affectionately  termed  by 
many  of  her  intimates.     And  it  was  as  a 


288  The  Salon 

parent,  with  troublesome  but  beloved  child- 
ren, that  she  scolded,  and  it  is  only  in  the 
character  of  children  that  her  well  grown 
but  unruly  family  could  take  her  sometimes 
meddlesome  ministrations  in  good  part. 

When  one  considers  the  slow  and  care- 
ful preparation  which  Madame  Geoffrin  had 
received  under  her  accomplished  mentor, 
Madame  de  Tencin,  and  when  to  such  in- 
struction was  united  such  ambition  and  such 
persistency  in  the  pursuit  of  an  object — for 
from  the  age  of  twenty  she  began  consis- 
tently to  plan  her  life — this  triumphant  de- 
but as  Madame  de  Tencin's  successor  is  not 
so  surprising  as  it  seems,  but  a  mere  matter 
of  cause  and  effect.  But  the  figure  we  see, 
though  it  is  essentially  French,  is  not  a 
Frenchwoman  such  as  we  usually  associate 
in  our  minds  with  the  salons  of  Paris  in  the 
eighteenth  century. 

ill 

The  remarkable  friendship  which  united 
Madame  Du  Deffand  and  Horace  Walpole 
was  a  connection  between  an  old  woman 


Madame  Geoffrin  289 

and  a  man  many  years  her  junior.  The 
case  is  reversed  with  Madame  Geoffrin  and 
Fontenelle,  for  he  was  forty-two  years  her 
senior.  Fontenelle  was  at  the  head  of  those 
who  took  refuge  with  Madame  Geoffrin 
after  the  death  of  Madame  de  Tencin.  With 
Montesquieu  and  Voltaire,  Fontenelle.  be- 
fore the  death  of  Madame  de  Tencin  had 
deprived  them  of  her  salon,  already  knew 
the  agreeable  interior  where  her  habitues 
had,  for  some  time,  been  eagerly  welcomed 
by  her  intelligent  protege.  The  favourite 
in  three  great  salons,  he  was  a  faithful  satel- 
lite in  the  orbit  of  his  new  star  as  he  had 
been,  first  in  that  of  Madame  de  Lambert, 
and  then  of  Madame  de  Tencin. 

After  Madame  de  Tencin,  Fontenelle  un- 
doubtedly exercised  the  greatest  influence 
over  Madame  Geoffrin's  mind  and  future, 
though  he  was  nearly  seventy-five  when 
their  courses  met  and  she  left  her  impression 
his  career.  He  had  long  been  acknowledged 
one  of  the  most  distinguished  men  of  the  age, 
whose  fame  had  continually  increased  with 
years,  and  on  whom  time  had  left  no  trace. 


290  The  Salon 

Bernard  de  Bovier,  better  known  as  Fon- 
tenelle,  was  the  nephew  of  Corneille,  and 
was  the  link  between  him,  Racine  and 
Boileau,  and  Voltaire,  Diderot  and  d'  Alem- 
bert ;  between  the  old  and  the  new  thought, 
the  old  and  the  new  periods  of  literature;  for 
it  was  not  alone  in  point  of  time  that  he 
connected  them,  he  united  also  in  himself 
the  refinement,  polish  and  distinction  of  the 
seventeenth  and  the  scientific  spirit  of  re- 
search and  the  philosophical  bent  of  the 
eighteenth  century. 

If  any  man  wishes  to  live  to  a  green  old 
age  he  should  pattern  after  Fontenelle. 
Born  in  1657,  though  he  never  looked  strong 
he  lived  to  be  within  a  month  of  a  hundred 
years,  retaining  throughout  his  long  life  per- 
fect mental  and,  with  the  exception  of  the 
last  few  years,  perfect  physical  health.  He 
was  free  from  vices,  even  from  faults ;  he 
had,  however,  no  passions  to  control, 
no  troublesome  warmth  of  temperament. 
Purely  intellectual,  no  emotion  ever  dis- 
turbed him.  He  never  laughed,  never  wept, 
was  never  angry.     He  was  never  even  in  a 


Enymrt  <l  by  st.  Anbin  from  the  Bust  by  l<<  Mnym 


Madame  Geoffrin  291 

hurry.  Naturally  he  never  suffered.  That 
a  man  likes  his  opposite  was  not  true  of 
Fontenelle  who  heartily  disliked  and  even 
condemned  any  exhibition  of  emotion.  "  1 
have  never  experienced  these  violent  agi- 
tations," he  complained  to  Madame  Geof- 
frin 's  fifteen-year-old  daughter,  put  out  by 
her  gay  spirits,  "  which  makes  me  think 
they  are  unnatural." 

This  constitutional  deficiency  explains 
why  his  poetry  should  have  offered  itself  to 
the  satirist  from  Racine  to  Rousseau.  Rous- 
seau calls  him  "  the  daintiest  pedant  in  the 
world."  His  subtle  verse  contains  no  feel- 
ing ;  his  lovers,  like  himself,  are  calculating. 
But  intellectually  one  of  the  most  versatile 
of  men,  he  early  developed  other  capacities 
and  was  the  first  to  bring  scientific  thought 
within  popular  reach  by  exchanging  scien- 
tific phraseology  for  the  vernacular.  He 
was  the  first  secretary  of  the  Academy  of 
Science — a  post  he  filled  from  1699  to  1741, 
having  previously,  at  the  age  of  thirty-four, 
been  elected  to  the  French  Academy — to 
employ  French  in  place  of  Latin,  and  all  the 


292  The  Salon 

while  in  his  scientific  and  historical  treatises, 
and  even  in  his  verse,  is  to  be  seen  a  phil- 
osophical tendency  which  constantly  in- 
creases and  by  means  of  which,  in  the 
course  of  time,  he  outstripped  in  fame  his 
critical  literary  contemporaries. 

Poet,  scientist,  philosopher,  universally 
admired  and  respected,  Fontenelle  has  been 
likened  to  Voltaire  in  the  scope  of  his  talents 
but,  with  his  peculiar  temperament,  it  was 
inevitable  that  he  should  be  wanting  in 
spontaneity,  frankness  and  freshness,  those 
distinguishing  qualities  of  Voltaire's  genius, 
and  beside  him  he  is  lifeless  and  dry.  But 
as  a  writer  of  prose  which,  contrary  to 
his  semi-classical  verse,  is  simple  and  un- 
affected, he  was — though  now  little  read — in 
his  day  eminently  successful,  and  all  his 
writings  are  characterised  by  his  own  in- 
dividuality in  their  refinement,  delicacy,  and 
tact. 

He  was  also  remarkable  as  a  conversation- 
alist and  then,  at  this  time  of  his  life,  he  had 
so  much  to  say  !  He  had  seen  and  talked 
with  Madame  de  Sevigne  and  he  had  known 


Madame  Geoffrin  293 

the  most  distinguished  men  and  women 
within  the  greater  part  of  his  century  of 
existence.  As  a  critic  he  was  unexcelled, 
though,  a  lover  of  peace,  he  would  never  be 
drawn  into  a  controversy.  He  especially 
had  no  mind  to  bring  down  the  denuncia- 
tion of  the  Church  upon  his  head,  and  one 
of  his  productions  arousing  some  discussion, 
he  could  not  be  got  to  defend  his  arguments, 
saying : 

"  I  have  no  taste  for  polemics.  Any  quarrel 
displeases  me.  Let  the  devil  be  thought  a 
prophet  since  the  Jesuit  father  wishes  it, 
and  he  believes  it  more  orthodox." 

For  nearly  twenty-five  years  Fontenelle 
spent  several  hours  of  each  day  with  Ma- 
dame Geoffrin  but,  in  spite  of  their  long 
and  intimate  association,  they  did  not,  sur- 
prising as  it  may  seem,  pretend  to  have  a 
spark  of  affection  for  one  another ;  it  was 
an  intercourse  merely  agreeable  and  useful 
to  each. 

"Have  you  any  regard  for  me?"  she 
asked  him  one  day.  "  I  find  you  very  ami- 
able," he  answered.      "  But  if  some  one 


294  The  Salon 

should  tell  you  I  had  murdered  one  of 
my  friends,  would  you  believe  it?"  "I 
should  wait,"  was  the  not  too  flattering 
reply. 

Nevertheless  these  two  remarkable  per- 
sons concientiously  fulfilled  that  which  they 
considered  to  be  their  duty  toward  each 
other.  No  woman  ever  had  a  wiser  coun- 
sellor or  a  more  substantial  friend  and,  for 
her  part,  she  saw  to  his  charities — for  though 
he  was  not  miserly  he  did  not  know  how 
to  give, — and  she  made  him  draw  up  a 
proper  will,  in  which  he  named  her  his  ex- 
ecutrix ;  and  when  at  last  his  time  came 
to  die,  she  sat  by  his  bedside  and  took  care, 
true  to  her  ideas  of  propriety  and  prudence, 
that  he — who  never  went  to  church — was 
duly  confessed,  and  shriven,  and  made  ready 
for  Heaven.  Up  to  the  age  of  ninety-five 
he  had  been  entirely  free  from  infirmities, 
and  even  then  he  did  not  seem  to  feel  them, 
and  his  accustomed  serenity  in  no  wise 
diminished.  He  died  as  he  had  lived,  his 
last  words,  in  answer  to  an  inquiry  if  he 
were  suffering,  a  tranquil  dissent.    "I  do 


Madame  Geoffrin  295 

not  suffer,  but  I  feel  a  certain  difficulty  in 
existing." 

Fontenelle  is  an  extraordinary  example  of 
a  life  passed  without  expenditure  of  feeling. 
Above  the  ordinary  frailties  of  men,  un- 
vexed  by  emotions,  his  mind  alone  was 
concerned,  and  at  a  time  of  life  when  most 
men  begin  to  decline  in  vigour,  when  the 
day  begins  to  lose  its  interest,  and  the  in- 
dividual, therefore,  to  become  less  interest- 
ing, this  man  was  at  the  height  of  his 
power  to  please,  of  his  fame  and  of  his 
influence. 

"  He  is  all  mind,"  said  Madame  Geoffrin, 
"  He  loves  no  one." 

The  philosopher  found  his  friend  intelli- 
gent and  amiable.  She  admired  his  intellect 
and  attached  great  value  to  his  companion- 
ship. That  was  all ;  it  was  enough.  Calm, 
cold,  and  calculating  herself,  Madame  Geof- 
frin appreciated  these  features  of  her  own 
character  which  were  so  strikingly  devel- 
oped in  Fontenelle.  He  represented  her 
ideal,  and  she  consciously  attempted  to 
model  herself  after  one  to  whom,  in  many 


296  The  Salon 

respects,  she  was  akin.  And  she  was  re- 
markably successful.  Though  his  influence 
was  not  altogether  for  the  best,  for  without 
his  elegance,  her  manners  took  on  some- 
thing of  his  indifference,  unresponsiveness, 
and  a  certain  artificiality,  all  of  which  were 
quite  foreign  to  her,  Sainte-Beuve  pro- 
nounces her  to  be  a  veritable  Fontenelle  in 
her  dislike  of  excess,  of  confusion,  of  pas- 
sion in  any  form.1  And  in  her  prudence,  in 
the  uniformity  of  her  life,  in  her  conception 
of  it,  and  in  her  strict  adherence  to  her  well- 
considered  plan  of  existence,  she  constantly 
practised  his  precepts. 

IV 

Voltaire  was  one  of  Madame  de  Tencin's 
friends  who  did  not  follow  so  readily  the 
general  current  which  had  set  in  toward 
the  salon  of  her  successor.  They  were  un- 
sympathetic and  quarrelled.  His  lawless 
genius  did  not  appeal  to  Madame  Geoffrin's 
practical    mind.      "  The   piece    has    some 

1  Causeries  du  Lundi,  par  Sainte-Beuve.  Paris,  Gamier  Freres, 
ii.,p.  319 


Madame  Geoffrin  297 

beauty,"  she  said  of  Rome  Vaincue,  "but 
not  common-sense,  like  everything  he  does." 
And  he,  on  his  side,  ridiculed  the  pretensions 
of  a  woman  who  could  not  write  "two 
lines  correctly"  to  pose  as  the  patroness  of 
letters.  Yet  he  appreciated  her  capacity 
and  her  quality  of  trustworthiness  and 
when,  after  the  death  of  Fontenelle,  a  dis- 
appointed relative  violently  attacked  her 
reputation  and  attempted  to  break  the  will, 
Voltaire  came  to  her  defence  and  thence- 
forward they  always  remained  on  friendly, 
if  not  cordial,  terms. 

The  relations  of  Madame  Geoffrin  with 
Montesquieu  took  a  contrary  course.  Much 
of  her  success  was  due  to  him,  but  his  faith 
in  her  received  a  shock  at  the  discovery 
that  she  pretended  to  a  knowledge  of  his 
work  which  she  did  not  possess.  The  cold- 
ness which  then  ensued  was  followed  later 
by  a  complete  rupture  when  he  took  the 
part  of  his  protege\  l'abbe  de  Guasco,  when 
she  refused  to  receive  him,  a  proceeding 
which,  though  she  was  quite  justified,  had 
disagreeable  consequences,  for  twelve  years 


298  The  Salon 

after  Montesquieu's  death,  the  abbe,  who 
had  nourished  his  resentment,  published, 
under  the  title  Lettres  familieres  du  President 
de  Montesquieu,  a  work  purporting  to  be  au- 
thentic letters  from  the  celebrated  writer  to 
Guasco,  in  which  Madame  Geoffrin  and  her 
pretensions  were  ridiculed  in  a  most  offen- 
sive way.  Her  reputation  and  influence 
were  such,  however,  that,  with  the  aid  of 
the  Due  de  Choiseul,  then  in  power,  she 
succeeded  not  only  in  having  the  copies 
which  had  been  issued  destroyed,  but  the 
book  was  officially  branded  as  false.  Not 
even  then  content,  she  went  so  far  as  to 
have  a  new  edition  printed  in  which,  of 
course,  the  defamatory  letters  were  omitted. 
Such  had  been  the  simplicity  and  discretion 
of  Madame  Geoffrin's  life  and  manners  that 
she  had  disarmed  envy  and  had  few  enemies 
and  this  is  the  only  instance  of  really  ma- 
levolent attack  from  which  she  had  to  suffer 
throughout  her  long  career. 

Madame  Geoffrin  was  an  exacting  friend 
with  fixed  ideas  of  values.  To  live  with  her 
on  terms  of  peace  one  must  learn  to  bend 


MONTESQUIEU. 
After  tin-  Pdintin;/  by  Drveria. 


Madame  Geoffrin  299 

absolutely  to  her  will.  Piron,  the  epigram- 
matist, was  another  of  her  early  supporters 
with  whom  shequarrelled.  In  this  case  itwas 
habitual  for  they  no  sooner  were  reconciled 
than  they  quarrelled  again  and  their  friend- 
ship, though  it  lasted  nearly  forty  years,  was 
never  anything  more  than  half-hearted  on 
either  side.  "  I  have  just  left,"  Piron  wrote 
a  friend,  "a  hotel  de  Rambouillet,  where  the 
lady  of  the  house  gives  dinners  to  all  the  il- 
lustrious parasites  of  our  three  Academies. 
.  .  .  No  one  knows  anything  but  she 
and  her  friends,  among  whom  I  have  not,  1 
believe,  the  honour  to  be.  I  only  figure  in 
this  fine  landscape  as  a  kind  of  barbarian." 
In  truth,  the  bold  unknown  who,  on  his 
arrival  in  Paris,  concealed  behind  the  scenes 
of  the  little  market  theatres,  put  such 
pointed  and  biting  epigrams  into  the  mouths 
of  the  marionettes  that  the  police  were  or- 
dered to  interfere  ;  whose  wit  and  wisdom 
were  crystallised  in  bon  mots  and  epigrams 
whenever  he  spoke  ;  the  author  of  the  line 
"J'ai  ri,  me  voila  desarme,"  so  significant, 
after  all,  of  a  good-natured  philosophy  ;  the 


300  The  Salon 

"talking  machine"  as  Grimm  called  the  an- 
tagonist before  whose  scathing  satire  even 
Voltaire  winced  and  of  whose  words  every 
one,  with  the  exception  of  Madame  Geof- 
frin,  stood  in  fear ;  such  a  man  could  ill 
brook  the  scolding  and  complaints,  the 
criticisms,  cuttings,  and  clippings — the  va- 
rious processes  by  which  Madame  Geoffrin 
attempted  to  fashion  her  friends  to  her 
liking. 

After  Fontenelle,  the  oldest  and  most  cher- 
ished friend  of  Madame  Geoffrin  was  Mairan, 
who  was  a  member  of  every  learned  society 
in  Europe.  He  was  a  counterpart  in  many 
ways  of  Fontenelle,  whom  he  succeeded  as 
perpetual  secretary  to  the  Academy  of 
Sciences.  Both  living  to  a  great  age  had 
descended  from  the  salon  of  Madame  de 
Lambert  in  the  previous  century  to  that  of 
Madame  de  Tencin,  and  then  to  Madame 
Geoffrin.  He  belonged  to  the  psychological 
type  which  appealed  so  strongly  to  Madame 
Geoffrin,  for  he  was  as  far  above  the  turmoil  of 
the  passions  as  herself  or  Fontenelle.  Neither, 
like  Fontenelle,  did  he  undertake  to  disturb 


Madame  Geoffrin  301 

the  tranquillity  of  his  existence  by  contract- 
ing domestic  ties,  and  when  he  died,  at  the 
age  of  ninety-three,  full  of  respect  and  hon- 
ours as  of  years,  she  watched  by  his  bedside 
as  she  had  by  that  of  Fontenelle,  and  was  as 
zealous  for  his  soul's  welfare  and  that  he 
should  make  as  decorous  an  end.  And  she 
was  as  successful,  for  he  also  at  her  desire 
now  confessed  and  took  communion  for  the 
first  time.  He  also  testified  his  devotion  by 
his  will,  in  which  he  left  her  all  his  consider- 
able fortune.  Again,  as  in  the  former  case,  she 
relinquished  all  personal  benefit  from  this 
bequest  and  divided  everything  between  his 
relatives,  old  domestics,  and  needy  writers. 
Another  who  occupied  an  important  place 
in  Madame  Geoffrin's  life,  and  also  a  member 
of  this  literary  group,  was  Burigny,  the  histo- 
rian, her  "  major  domo."  Forever  at  her  beck 
and  call,  by  turns  scolded  and  petted,  his 
life  must  at  times  have  been  a  burden.  "  It 
is  forty  years  since  I  have  been  your  serv- 
ant," he  exclaimed  one  day,  his  patience 
exhausted,  "and  at  least  thirty-nine  since  1 
have  been  your  slave! "  She  perhaps  scolded 


3Q2  The  Salon 

him  more  than  any  one,  which  leads  one 
to  believe  that  she  probably  preferred  him. 
Following  the  example  of  Fontenelle  and 
Mairan,  Burigny,  too,  never  married,  and  as 
he  and  Madame  Geoffrin  advanced  in  years, 
she  insisted  that  he  should  make  her  house 
his  home.  It  would  seem  as  though  these 
scholars  had  in  their  researches  discovered 
the  secret  of  longevity ;  Burigny  lived  to 
be  nearly  a  hundred — surviving  Madame 
Geoffrin — without  ills  or  infirmities  of  any 
kind.  Among  the  many  friends  with  whom 
Madame  Geoffrin  and  her  daughter  were  sur- 
rounded, Burigny  and  Grimm  alone  were  able 
to  live  on  cordial  terms  with  each,  and  after 
Madame  Geoffrin's  death  the  formerstill  lived 
on  with  Madame  de  la  Ferte-Imbault.  The 
manner  of  death  of  this  happy,  peaceable, 
equable  old  man,  who  did  not  feel  or  fear 
its  approach  any  more  than  that  of  sleep, 
shows  that  the  philosophical  circle  were  not 
all  wanting  in  religious  feeling.  When,  his 
strength  ebbing,  he  was  urged  to  take  food, 
he  answered,  smiling : 
"  1  am  not  anxious  for  it,  for  I  am,  I  con- 


Madame  Geoffrin  303 

fess,  curious  to  see  more  nearly  the  eternal 
Father." 


Madame  de  Rambouillet  permanently 
raised  the  status  of  men  of  letters  and  to 
Madame  Geoffrin  belongs  the  credit  of  per- 
forming the  same  service  for  painters,  sculp- 
tors, and  musicians.  Once  more  society 
opened  its  ranks  in  order  that  its  intellectual 
scope  might  be  still  further  increased.  Am- 
bitious to  extend  her  dominions,  Madame 
Geoffrin,  who  had  become  a  ruler  of  so- 
ciety, enlarged  the  boundaries  of  her  salon 
by  reinforcing  the  literary  group — which 
had  been  gradually  coming  to  the  front, 
superseding  even  the  men  of  rank  who  had 
pretensions  to  birth  alone — with  those  whose 
professions  hitherto  had  been  held  unworthy 
to  be  ranked  with  literature. 

It  cannot  be  said,  however,  generous  as 
were  her  instincts,  that  it  was  pure  benevo- 
lence, either  for  artists  or  for  society  in 
general,  which  inspired  Madame  Geoffrin's 
efforts  ;  primarily,  she  was  blind  to  these 


304  The  Salon 

larger  aims,  and  was  working  for  her  own 
aggrandisement.  Devoured  by  a  colos- 
sal ambition,  she  made  use  of  all  her  prac- 
tical intelligence  to  further  her  ends.  A 
simple  bourgeoise  by  birth,  and  without 
education,  she  aspired  to,  and  succeeded  in 
becoming,  the  queen  of  an  intellectual  realm 
whose  confines  should  not  be  bounded  by 
Paris,  or  even  France,  but  which  should  ex- 
tend throughout  Europe. 

Madame  Geoffrin  sought  to  supply  the 
defects— all  too  patent — of  her  early  educa- 
tion by  elementary  tasks,  taking,  for  in- 
stance, lessons  to  improve  her  handwriting. 
She  seems,  however,  to  have  read  few  of 
the  works  of  the  intellectual  giants  of  the 
time  and  her  frank  remark  to  the  learned 
Burigny,  when  he  gave  her  his  works, 
"I  am  glad  to  have  them,  but  I  do  not 
want  to  read  them,"  probably  might  have 
been  said  to  most  of  the  men  of  letters 
from  whom  she  received  such  gifts.  Pic- 
tures pleased  her  more  than  books  and  she 
paid  more  attention  to  them,  following 
closely  the  work  of  the  painters  whom  she 


Madame  Geoffrin  3°5 

patronised,  picking  flaws  without  stint, 
worrying  and  wearying  them  with  her  in- 
sistent advice  which,  nevertheless,  though 
always  after  violent  discussions,  she  made 
them  follow.  Sometimes  her  proteges  abso- 
lutely refused  to  submit  to  her  arbitrary 
counsels,  as  when  Boucher  sent  a  picture 
which  he  had  undertaken,  under  her  surveil- 
lance, for  the  King  of  Poland,  to  Wien  to 
be  finished.  And  Greuze  threatened  to  im- 
mortalise her,  after  one  of  these  tumultuous 
scenes,  as  a  tyrannical  schoolmistress,  whip 
in  hand.  But,  strange  as  it  may  seem,  as  a 
rule,  all  these  remarkable  men  submitted, 
sooner  or  later,  and  with  more  or  less  good 
grace,  to  this  despotic  sway,  and  their 
conflicts  became  less  frequent  and  recon- 
ciliations more  certain  as  she  learned  to 
understand  the  artist's  temperament,  and  so 
criticised  less  and  praised  more.  "  I  have 
become  their  friend  because  I  see  them 
often,  make  them  work,  caress  them,  praise 
them,  and  pay  them  very  well,"  she  wrote 
to  the  King  of  Poland,  in  1766,  and 
in  these   last   words   may  be  found,  it  is 


306  The  Salon 

possible,  the  ultimate  reason  for  their  sub- 
mission. 

But  the  success  of  the  Monday  dinners 
was  not  due  to  her  alone,  she  was  assisted 
in  their  formation  by  the  Count  de  Caylus, 
one  of  the  most  original  and  contradictory 
characters  who  shines  in  this  salon  ;  a  man 
who  went  to  curious  extremes,  who  re- 
nounced the  aristocracy  into  which  he  was 
born,  who  heartily  disliked  the  philosophers 
and  encyclopedistes,  and  who  despised,  for 
the  most  part,  men  of  letters.  An  antiqua- 
rian, an  art  connoisseur,  himself  an  engraver, 
he  cared  only,  as  a  rule,  for  the  society 
of  artists.  It  was  he  who  selected  the 
new  recruits,  and  who  persuaded  Madame 
Geoffrin  that  they  should  have  a  day  of  their 
own  when  they — and  he — would  be  entirely 
independent  of  her  literary  friends. 

In  spite  of  his  emphatic  protests,  however, 
she  soon  undertook  to  leaven  this  too  one- 
ideaed  society  by  the  introduction  of  a  few 
amateurs  such  as  the  Marquis  de  Marigny, 
Madame  de  Pompadour's  brother ;  the  Due 
de  la  Rochefoucauld,  Marmontel,  d'Alem- 


Madame  Geoffrin  307 

bert,  and  others  from  her  Wednesday  literary 
coterie  were  admitted,  and  the  reputation 
of  the  Mondays  soon  rivalled  that  of 
the  Wednesdays.  The  Mondays,  neverthe- 
less, always  retained  the  distinctive  artistic 
character  which  belongs  to  no  other  salon. 

A  letter  from  a  youthful  debutant  in  the 
world  of  art,  Costa  de  Beauregard,  gives  an 
idea  of  how  they  occupied  themselves  : 

There  were  at  dinner  [he  wrote],  M.  de  Ma- 
rigny,  the  Due  de  la  Rochefoucauld,  Marmontel, 
Cochin,  the  celebrated  engraver,  and  many  other  per- 
sons, whose  names  I  don't  know.  Each  one  had 
brought  something:  Vernet  a  picture  that  had  just 
come  from  Italy,  and  which  they  thought  was  by  Cor- 
reggio;  M.  de  la  Rochefoucauld,  a  little  picture 
painted  "en  camieu  "  and  encrusted  by  a  process 
of  which  no  one  knew;  M.  Mariette,  a  little  port- 
folio filled  with  his  most  beautiful  prints;  M.  Cochin, 
some  pen  and  ink  sketches;  and  I,  my  picture.  .  .  . 
Madame  Geoffrin  has  a  brusque  and  lively  manner.  For 
the  daughter  of  a  valet  dechambre  of  the  Dauphiness 
she  appears  to  me  very  much  at  her  ease  in  the  midst 
of  these  grand  seigneurs  and  great  minds.1 

She  read  letters,  he  continues,  from  the 
King  of  Poland  and  Voltaire,  and  toward  the 
end  of  the  dinner  a  decrepit  old  gentleman, 

1  Lc  Royaume  de  la  rue  Saint  Honorc,  p.  62. 


308  The  Salon 

on  the  arm  of  a  domestic,  was  announced. 
It  was  President  Henault,  Madame  Du  Def- 
fand's  old  friend,  now  aged  eighty-two  and 
still,  according  to  our  chronicler,  in  spite  of 
years  and  deafness,"  charmingly  gay." 

Nor  was  music  wanting  to  add  to  the 
charm  of  these  reunions ;  musicians  were 
made  as  welcome  as  artists,  and  one  of  the 
portraits  of  Madame  Geoffrin  represents  her 
listening  to  a  performer,  supposed  to  be 
Rameau,  playing  on  the  clavecin.  Naturally, 
therefore,  when  the  child  Mozart  appeared 
in  Paris  Madame  Geoffrin  was  one  of  the 
first  to  appreciate  his  precocious  genius;  he 
played  before  her,  and  when  he  left  Paris 
for  Vienna  she  forestalled  his  arrival  by 
letters  of  recommendation  to  the  Austrian 
Minister. 

Among  her  artists  were  Boucher,  gay,  gal- 
lant, and  talkative;  La  Tour,  the  pastellist, 
a  striking  contrast,  with  his  melancholy 
humour  and  philanthropic  occupations,  to 
the  pleasure-loving  Boucher,  one  the  true 
artistic  Bohemian  type,  the  other  many- 
sided,  and  an  artist  on  one  side  only;  Bou- 


Madame  Geoffrin  3°9 

chardon,  the  sculptor,  and  Langrenee  and 
Drouais,  then  so  popular,  might  also  have 
been  seen  in  her  salon. 

But  it  was  Carle  Van  Loo,  Boucher's  gifted 
pupil,  of  whom  Madame  Geoffrin  was  espe- 
cially fond.  Regularly  every  week  she  paid 
a  visit  to  the  studio  of  her  painter  "  attitre," 
as  he  was  called.  These  visits,  invariably  ac- 
companied by  differences  of  opinion,  by 
laughter  and  tears,  were  of  a  particularly 
tempestuous  description. 

Two  of  Van  Loo's  most  celebrated  works, 
La  Conversation  Espagnole  and  La  Lecture, 
in  both  of  which  the  portrait  of  Madame 
Geoffrin's  daughter  appears,  were  painted 
under  these  trying  conditions. 

Madame  Geoffrin's  large  collection  of  pic- 
tures, comprising  no  less  than  sixty-three 
works  of  the  best  artists  of  the  period  and  all 
executed  under  her  supervision,  show  that 
this  practical  woman  knew  how  to  give 
effective  shape  to  her  interest  in  art  and  in 
her  friends. 

The  celebrated  carnets  which  she  kept, 
wherein  were  minutely  described  the  main 


3Jo  The  Salon 

transactions  of  her  life,  form  not  alone 
a  social  encyclopaedia  of  the  time  but 
a  catalogue  of  her  expenditures.  In  one 
place  we  read  of  "Mr.  Wilkes,  English, 
ugly,  false,  and  very  extraordinary,  who  has 
been  much  talked  about  in  London."  And 
in  another  that  she  gave  Van  Loo  eighteen 
thousand  livres  for  three  pictures  for  her 
bedroom. 

It  will  be  seen  that  Madame  Geoffrin 
was  a  kind  of  benevolent  despot  in  her 
dealings  with  artists,  her  habitual  gener- 
osity removing  the  sting  from  her  criticisms. 
She  always  paid  for  her  pictures  above 
their  market  value,  and  the  same  generosity 
was  shown  not  only  by  her  purchases  but 
by  her  interest  in  the  artists'  families, 
and  if  death  deprived  them  of  the  bread 
winner,  Madame  Geoffrin  invariably  came 
to  their  assistance. 

I  must  touch  on  another  incident  in  the 
life  of  Madame  Geoffrin  in  which — and  it  is 
difficult  to  find  a  quarter  in  mid  or  late 
eighteenth  century  society,  on  either  side 
the  channel,  where  his  name  is  not  found — 


Madame  Geoffrin  311 

Horace  Walpole  appears,  and  not  to  his 
advantage. 

Introduced  by  Lady  Hervey,  the  admirer 
and  correspondent  of  each,  he  was  received 
at  once  on  the  footing  of  a  friend,  and  until 
he  met  Madame  Du  Deffand  he  could  not 
say  enough  in  her  praise.  "I  have  been 
with  Madame  Geoffrin  several  times,"  he 
wrote  Lady  Hervey  soon  after  his  arrival, 
and  "  I  think  she  has  one  of  the  best  under- 
standings I  ever  met,  and  more  knowledge 
of  the  world."1  The  good  opinion  he  had 
conceived  of  her  even  increased,  and  Madame 
Geoffrin  succeeded  in  evoking  something 
which  appeared  like  real  enthusiasm,  for  in 
a  short  time  he  again  wrote  :  "  I  make  her 
both  my  confessor  and  director,  and  begin 
to  think  I  shall  be  a  reasonable  creature 
at  last,  which  I  had  never  intended  to  be. 
.  .  .  If  it  was  worth  her  while,  I  assure 
your  Ladyship  she  might  govern  me  like  a 
child."2 

1  Oct.  3,  1765,  Letters  of  Horace  Walpole,  ed.,  Toynbee,  vi.,  p. 
306. 

2  Oct.  13,  1765,   Letters  of  Horace  Walpole,  ed.,  Toynbee,  vi., 

p.  322. 


3i2  The  Salon 

But  with  the  advent  of  Madame  Du  Def- 
fand  Walpole's  ardour  for  Madame  Geoffrin 
rapidly  cooled.  And  what  chance  for  suc- 
cess did  the  bourgeoise,  in  whom  were 
apparent  many  characteristics  of  her  vulgar 
origin,  have,  in  the  imagination  of  an  aes- 
thetic connoisseur  like  Walpole,  against  the 
charm  of  a  woman  an  aristocrat  in  esse  as 
was  Walpole  himself? 

Madame  Du  Deffand's  profound  and  sub- 
tle intellect  and  her  good  breeding,  all  of 
which  was  reflected  in  her  salon,  satisfied 
both  Walpole's  taste  and  understanding,  and 
the  fond  and  singular  attachment  of  an  old 
woman  and  a  celebrity  appealed  strongly  to 
the  many  odd  instincts  which  were  culti- 
vated so  assiduously  in  the  Strawberry  Hill 
dilettante— and  Walpole  was  not  apt  to 
deny  himself  anything  he  liked. 

The  generous  impulses  which  agitated 
the  philosophical  group  in  the  salon  of 
Madame  Geoffrin  were  incomprehensible  to 
Walpole's  somewhat  narrow  and  timid  order 
of  mind  ;  it  was  to  be  expected,  therefore, 
that  when  he  had  to  choose  between  the 


Madame  Geoffrin  3*3 

two  women  he  should  renounce  Madame 
Geoffrin.  It  was  not,  however,  a  change 
of  heart  of  which  Madame  Geoffrin  had 
reason  to  complain,  for  the  prince  of  gos- 
sips, never  able  to  hold  his  tongue,  now 
began  to  criticise  her  most  unkindly.  In 
January,  1766,  he  sent  the  following  life- 
like sketch  to  the  poet  Gray  which  can- 
not be  said  to  be  obscured  by  any  halo  of 
friendship: 

Madame  Geoffrin,  of  whom  you  have  heard  much, 
is  an  extraordinary  woman,  with  more  common  sense 
than  I  almost  ever  met  with.  Great  quickness  in  dis- 
covering characters,  penetration  in  going  to  the  bot- 
tom of  them,  and  a  pencil  that  never  fails  in  a  likeness 
— seldom  a  favourable  one.  She  exacts  and  preserves, 
spite  of  her  birth  and  their  nonsensical  prejudices 
about  nobility,  great  court  and  attention.  This  she 
acquires  by  a  thousand  little  arts  and  offices  of  friend- 
ship ;  and  by  a  freedom  and  severity,  which  seem  to 
be  her  sole  end  of  drawing  a  concourse  to  her  ;  for 
she  insists  on  scolding  those  she  inveigles  to  her. 
She  has  little  taste  and  less  knowledge,  but  protects 
artisans  and  authors,  and  courts  a  few  people  to  have 
the  credit  of  serving  her  dependents.  She  was  bred 
under  the  famous  Madame  Tencin,  who  advised  her 
never  to  refuse  any  man;  for,  said  her  mistress, 
though  nine  in  ten  should  not  care  a  farthing  for  you, 
the  tenth  may  live  to  be  an  useful  friend.    She  did  not 


3H  The  Salon 

adopt  or  reject  the  whole  plan,  but  fully  retained  the 
purport  of  the  maxim.  In  short  she  is  an  epitome  of 
empire,  subsisting  by  rewards  and  punishments.1 

Walpole  later  went  so  far  as  to  advise  his 
friends  to  avoid  her.  "  Indeed,  you  would 
be  sick  of  that  house,"  he  wrote  General 
Conway,  "  whither  all  the  pretended  beaux 
esprits  and  faux  savants  go,  and  where  they 
are  very  impertinent  and  dogmatic."2 

It  is  not  probable,  however,  that  Madame 
Geoffrin,  surrounded  by  men  of  the  first  in- 
tellectual rank,  long  mourned  Walpole  the 
dilettante.  At  this  very  time,  also,  her  mind 
was  occupied  with  her  projected  visit  to 
Stanislaus  II,  King  of  Poland,  whom,  when 
a  youth  of  twenty-one,  she  had  rescued 
from  a  debtor's  prison. 

In  those  days  he  possessed  no  pretensions 
to  the  throne.  His  father,  Count  Poniatow- 
ski,  indicated  the  esteem  in  which  Madame 
Geoffrin  was  held  by  sending  five  sons  in 
succession  to  the  rue  Saint  Honore,  with  in- 
structions to  obey  her  as  if  she  were  their 

1  Letters  of  Horace    Walpole,  ed.,  Toynbee,    vi.,  p.  404. 

2  Sept.  28,  1774.  Letters  of  Horace  Walpole,  ed.,  Toynbee,  ix. 
P-59- 


Madame  Geoffrin  315 

mother,  and  when,  in  1753,  the  fourth  son 
attained  his  majority  and  came,  in  his  turn,  to 
visit  Paris,  he  proceeded,  like  his  brothers, 
straightway  to  this  hospitable  house,  and 
their  relations  from  that  time  were  those  of 
mother  and  son.  Of  course,  she  scolded 
him  for  his  extravagance  and  of  course 
she  paid  his  debts.  He  was  affectionate 
and  hearkened  to  her  advice.  Four  years 
later  he  was  elected  to  the  throne  of  Poland 
through  the  good  offices  of  Catherine 
II,  who  had  been  violently  in  love  with  him, 
but,  perfectly  recovered,  had  thrown  him  a 
kingdom  to  assuage  his  sorrow. 

In  everything  which  relates  to  Poniatowski 
Madame  Geoffrin  is  seen  in  a  new  role,  and 
the  whole-hearted  way  in  which  she  sur- 
rendered herself  to  this  attachment  is  an 
idiosyncrasy  in  her  self-contained  and 
egotistical  nature. 

Hardly  able  to  contain  her  joy  at  the  un- 
expected turn  of  Fortune's  wheel,  she  lost 
her  customary  balance,  and  appears  even  in 
a  somewhat  ridiculous  aspect.  "My  dear 
son,   my  dear  King,   my  dear  Stanislaus- 


316  The  Salon 

Auguste,  my  trinity,"  were  the  extravagant 
terms  in  which  she  addressed  the  young 
monarch. 

Her  desire  to  see  her  protege  must  indeed 
have  been  strong,  for  a  journey  to  Warsaw 
before  the  time  of  railways,  when  there  were 
scarcely  roads  of  any  description  on  many 
parts  of  the  route,  was  no  light  undertaking 
for  any  ordinary  woman  nearly  seventy 
years  of  age.  But  at  sixty-seven  Madame 
Geoffrin's  intellectual  faculties  were  at  their 
best,  and  she  was  as  vigorous  in  body  as  in 
mind  when,  on  May  i,  1766,  to  the  indigna- 
tion of  her  society,  who  felt  themselves 
much  injured,  she  left  Paris  for  the  Polish 
capital. 

The  journey  was  a  series  of  triumphs. 
Everywhere  her  approach,  heralded  in  ad- 
vance, was  the  signal  for  attentions  without 
number.  On  the  eve  of  her  departure  from 
Vienna  she  wrote  her  daughter  in  the  fol- 
lowing enthusiastic  strain: 

The  Court  and  the  town  have  overwhelmed  me 
with  kindness.  I  have  seen  the  Emperor,  the  Empress- 
Queen,  the  Archdukes,  and  the  Archduchesses,  with 
the  same  ease  that  I  do  the  persons  who  do  me  the 


Madame  Geoffrin  3l7 

honour  to  come  to  see  me.  All  the  Imperial  family, 
each  one  separately,  has  said  to  me  the  most  flat- 
tering things  in  the  world.  The  Prince  de  Kaunitz, 
first  minister  .  .  .  has  overwhelmed  me  with 
attentions.  I  have  hardly  left  his  house,  which  is  the 
.  .  .  most  brilliant  that  one  can  imagine.  [And 
she  concludes  naively:]  You  see  beautiful  Marquise, 
that  you  have  a  mother  who  is  worthy  of  this 
honour.1 

The  traveller  was  invited  to  Schonbrunn 
where  she  saw,  for  the  first  time,  Marie  An- 
toinette, then  a  girl  of  twelve  and  whom 
Madame  Geoffrin  thought  "  beautiful  as  an 
angel. "  Something  of  the  fate  of  the  future 
Queen  of  France  was  foreshadowed  in  the 
conversation  which  followed.  "  What  a 
charming  little  Archduchess  !  "  exclaimed 
the  visitor,  who — as  she  wrote — felt  quite  at 
home,  "  How  I  would  like  to  carry  her  off 
with  me!"  "Take  her,  take  her!"  was 
the  reply,  and  Maria  Theresa  afterwards  even 
suggested  to  Madame  Geoffrin  that  she 
should  make  known  her  happy  impressions 
in  France.  It  must  not  be  thought,  how- 
ever, from  this  incident,  that  Madame  Geof- 

1  Lc  Royanmc  dc  la  rue  Saint-Honorc,  pp.  259,  260. 


318  The  Salon 

frin  had  any  influence  at  the  French  Court, 
whose  etiquette,  the  most  strict  in  Europe, 
effectually  checked  the  indulgence  of  any 
political  aspirations  in  a  woman  of  the 
bourgeoisie,  no  matter  how  influential — un- 
less, indeed,  she  chanced  to  catch  the  fancy 
of  the  King. 

If  they  have  talked  of  my  travels  in  Paris,  I  assure 
you  they  have  talked  still  more  about  them  in  Vienna. 
All  the  ladies  said  there  was  nothing  they  would  not 
give  to  see  my  meeting  with  the  King.  They  would 
have  been  satisfied.  When  I  saw  the  King  at  the  foot 
of  his  steps,  crying  Voila  Maman!  and  seizing  me  in 
his  arms,  the  beating  of  my  heart  and  the  trembling 
of  my  knees  so  affected  me  that  I  should  have  fallen  if 
the  King  had  not  supported  me.1 

So,  on  her  arrival  in  Warsaw,  again  wrote 
Madame  Geoffrin  to  her  daughter,  still  in 
the  first  flush  of  happiness  and  satisfied 
pride.  But  her  tone  soon  changed.  In 
spite  of  her  pleasure  in  the  society  of  her 
beloved  "son,"  and  in  the  reflected  glory 
which  she  enjoyed  in  Poniatowski's  court, 
Madame  Geoffrin's  visit  to  Warsaw  proved 
to  be  a  disappointment.  Many  fond  illusions 
were  dispelled  and  a  conversion  was  ex- 

1  Le  Royaume  de  la  rue  Saint  Honore,  p.  265. 


Madame  Geoffrin  3*9 

perienced  in  respect  to  royalty  from  which 
she  never  recanted. 

Bad  as  was  the  state  of  affairs  in  France, 
there  were  countries  where  a  worse  con- 
dition prevailed.  "All  that  I  have  seen 
since  leaving  home  makes  me  thank  God 
that  I  was  born  French  and  a  private  per- 
son," she  wrote  d' Alembert.  The  friend  of 
philosophers  and  a  woman  sprung  from  the 
bourgeoisie  could  not  behold,  untouched, 
the  misery  of  the  poor,  the  debasement  of 
the  middle  class,  and  the  arrogance  of  the 
nobles,  which  existed  in  Poland.  Accus- 
tomed to  advise  and  scold,  she  still  scolded, 
and  suggested  impossible  reforms  to  the 
King,  who,  first  the  toy  and  then  the  tool  of 
Catherine,  possessed  no  initiative  and  very 
little  authority.  Like  some  feeble,  profligate, 
oriental  potentate  he  was  permitted  every 
luxury,  or  excess,  as  he  liked,  but  Catherine 
did  not  wish  reforms  for  Poland  and  Ma- 
dame Geoffrin  found  her  hero,  whom  she 
had  apotheosised  as  a  Sully  and  a  Henri 
IV,  at  the  head  of  the  worst  governed 
kingdom  in   Europe.    Well  meaning,   pol- 


320  The  Salon 

ished,  charming,  Poniatowski  was  but  a 
mere  puppet  in  the  hands  of  a  strong,  un- 
principled, and  ambitious  autocrat.  His  reign 
was  the  antithesis  of  Madame  Geoffrin's  ex- 
pectations and  she  made  no  attempt  to  con- 
ceal her  dissatisfaction.  The  forbearance  of 
the  King  alone  prevented  a  quarrel.  But  a 
peace  was  patched  up,  the  King  even  per- 
suading her  to  prolong  her  stay  for  a  little, 
as  the  time  set  for  her  departure  approached. 
The  final  parting  was  tender  on  his  part  and 
affectionate  on  hers,  though  she  refused  the 
princely  gifts  which  he  pressed  upon  her, 
accepting  only  his  miniature  from  which  she 
detached  the  diamonds  in  which  it  was 
framed. 

Madame  Geoffrin's  visits  to  Vienna  and 
Warsaw  had  fired  the  imagination  of  the 
friends  she  had  left  behind  much  as  Ponia- 
towski's  elevation  to  the  throne  had  her 
own;  and  with  similar  results.  Voltaire, 
full  of  philanthropical  zeal  wrote,  before  she 
left,  begging  her  to  use  her  influence  with 
the  King  that  he  might  also  come  to  the 
succour  of  the  persecuted.    Marmontel,  in 


Madame  Geoffrin  321 

extravagant  terms,  foretold  the  most  im- 
probable consequences  for  the  benefit  of 
humanity  from  her  travels. 

But  if,  in  these  ways,  her  journey  dis- 
appointed her  friends  and  herself,  this  year 
marked  the  culminating  point  of  her  tri- 
umphs and  on  her  return,  in  October,  the 
wanderer  was  received  like  a  sovereign 
returning  to  his  own. 

Her  name  had  attained  a  European  repu- 
tation and  she  was  recognised  everywhere 
as  a  power  in  society.  It  was  even  said  that 
the  German  courts  sent  spies  to  report  on 
the  drift  of  opinion  in  her  salon.  Such  a 
centre  of  influence  had  the  hotel  in  the  rue 
Saint  Honore  become. 

Her  personal  relations  with  the  conti- 
nental courts  is  a  striking  proof  of  the  wide 
extent  of  the  conquests  of  the  ambitious 
bourgeoise.  Gustavus  III  continued  in 
Stockholm,  by  means  of  letters,  an  intimate 
intercourse  begun  in  Paris  before  his  acces- 
sion. Her  correspondence  with  Catherine 
II,  begun  by  the  Empress  for  political  rea- 
sons,  soon,   despite  the  unwelcome  obse- 


322  The  Salon 

quiousness  of  Madame  Geoffrin's  first  letters, 
struck  a  sympathetic  chord. 

Do  not  say,  I  beg  of  you  [she  wrote,  in  1765], 
that  your  letters  are  long,  with  your  fine  tact  you 
should  have  felt  long  ago  that  I  devour  these  letters; 
and  that,  from  beginning  to  end  I  have  equal  pleasure 
in  reading  and  re-reading  them.  They  are  charm- 
ing, if  I  were  a  man,  I  should  say  ravishing,  and  that 
is  true.1 

Another  time  the  sovereign  repeats  a  re- 
quest that  Madame  Geoffrin  should  abandon 
the  humble  attitude  so  foreign  to  her  nature. 

"Arise,  Madame,  here  is  my  hand.  It  is 
so  that  I  propose  to  reply  in  future  to  your 
prosternations,  genuflexions,  etc.,  to  stop 
them."  But  the  unbecoming  mask  of  hu- 
mility which  Madame  Geoffrin — always 
dazzled  by  the  glitter  of  a  great  title — as- 
sumed for  exalted  persons,  was  soon  cast 
aside,  and  her  true  character  disclosed  ;  and 
the  Czarina  was  forced  to  submit  to  the  same 
censorious  criticisms  that  were  meted  out 
to  all  those  whom  Madame  Geoffrin  pre- 
tended to  love. 

Though  Madame  Geoffrin's  letters  have, 

«  Le  Royaume  de  la  rue  Saint-Honor c ,  pp.  442,  443. 


Madame  Geoffrin  323 

with  the  exception  of  a  few  fragments,  dis- 
appeared, those  of  the  Empress  remain  to 
reveal  the  evolution  of  one  of  the  strangest 
friendships  which  ever  existed  between  two 
celebrated  women.  Widely  separated  in 
station,  they  were  united  and  were  alike  in 
their  masculine  minds,  their  imperious  and 
uncontrolled  wills,  and  their  absolutely  in- 
dependent positions,  for  Madame  Geoffrin 
was  as  autocratic  and  all-powerful  in  her 
sphere  of  influence  as  was  the  ruler  of  all 
the  Russias  within  her  dominions. 

Their  correspondence  lasted,  with  some 
breaks,  for  five  years,  though  their  relations 
were  considerably  strained  by  Madame 
Geoffrin 's  visit  to  Warsaw,  of  which  she 
left  Catherine,  who  had  frequently  and  in- 
sistently urged  her  to  visit  St.  Petersburg!!, 
in  ignorance  ;  and  when,  after  the  traveller's 
return,  the  Empress  learned  that  a  political 
paper  by  Rulhiere,  secretary  to  the  French 
minister  at  St.  Petersburgh,  which  she  had 
in  vain  tried  to  suppress,  and  wherein  the 
doubtful  means  she  had  employed  to  gain 
possession  of  her  throne  were   freely  dis- 


324  The  Salon 

cussed,  had  been  read  in  Madame  Geof- 
frin's  salon,  all  communication  between  the 
celebrated  bourgeoise  and  the  notorious 
Empress  came  to  an  end. 

Some  attempt  has  been  made1  to  defend 
this  questionable  proceeding  on  the  part  of 
a  friend  by  attributing  to  Madame  Geoffrin 
the  belief  that  the  work  which  drew,  after 
all,  a  flattering  portrait  of  the  Empress, 
would  add  to,  rather  than  detract  from,  her 
reputation.  The  paper,  however,  which 
was  never  publicly  circulated,  had  been 
read  in  Madame  Du  Deffand's  salon,  which 
was  enough,  probably,  to  fire  Madame  Geof- 
frin with  jealous  zeal  that  her  society  also 
should  taste  the  dangerous  fruit  which 
Madame  Du  Deffand's  guests  had  enjoyed. 


IX 


What  are  the  prominent  names,  beside 
those  which  have  been  mentioned,  to  be 
found  in  Madame  Geoffrin's  salon  ?  Among 
her  first  followers  were  Marivaux,   Fonte- 

i  De  Segur,  Le  Royaume  de  la  rue  Saint  Honore,  pp.  221-22. 


Madame  Geoffrin  325 

nelle's  disciple,  and  the  poet  Saurin.  Then 
came  "  pere  "  Paciaudi,  the  well-known  cor- 
respondent of  the  Comte  de  Caylus,  and 
his  companion  in  archaeological  research  ; 
the  abbes  Raynal,  Galiani,  and  Morellet,  the 
first  of  whom  opened  the  correspondence 
with  the  German  courts  which  Grimm  after- 
ward developed,  the  second,  the  gay  little 
Neapolitan,  Madame  d'  Epinay's  correspond- 
ent who,  from  the  time  he  was  introduced 
was  never  absent  from  a  single  one  of 
Madame  Geoffrin's  Wednesdays  as  long  as 
he  was  in  Paris.  Wig  awry,  hands  and  feet 
or  piercing  voice  never  still,  Galiani  was 
one  of  the  features  of  Madame  Geoffriirs 
salon.  "I  love  her,  I  respect  her,  I  adore 
her ;  and  if  they  listened  to  me  I  would 
always  talk  of  her!"  he  wrote  Madame 
Necker  of  their  mutual  friend,  for  Madame 
Geoffrin,  though  she  never,  with  one  ex- 
ception, invited  a  woman  to  her  dinners, 
was  not  without  women  friends.  Galiani, 
forever  exiled,  constantly  lamented  the  loss 
of  the  brilliant  salons  of  Paris.  "  There  is 
no  way  of  making  Naples  resemble  Paris 


326  The  Salon 

if  we  do  not  find  a  woman  to  guide  us,  to 
Geoff rinise  us,"  he  cried. 

Marmontel,  whom  she  launched  on  the 
career  of  letters,  and  Morellet,  Helvetius, 
and  d'  Holbach  gave  dinners  which  were 
something  in  the  nature  of  rivals  to  her 
own,  in  her  later  years ;  the  strong  feel- 
ings which  the  times  engendered  and  which 
were  forbidden  utterance  by  Madame  Geof- 
frin  were  there  given  free  play,  and  religion 
and  politics  were  discussed  with  all  the 
vehemence  which  these  subjects  naturally 
aroused.  Hume,  the  friend  and  correspond- 
ent of  Julie  de  Lespinasse,  was  also  a  friend 
and  correspondent  of  Madame  Geoffrin,  and 
her  letters  to  him  contain  a  personal  note 
which  is  not  often  found  in  her  writing. 
Madame  Necker  brought  Gibbon.  The 
Comte  de  Creutz,  the  Swedish  Minister, 
a  lover  of  the  fine  arts,  was  also  of  the 
number,  and  Gatti,  the  celebrated  Italian 
doctor ;  Diderot,  as  well,  whom,  though  Ma- 
dame Geoffrin  assisted,  she  never  appreci- 
ated ;  Saint  Lambert,  Madame  d'  Houdetot's 
lover ;  Turgot,  Thomas,  and  Suard,  the  jour- 


Madame  Geoffrin  327 

nalist,  whose  marriage,  against  Madame 
Geoffrin's  advice,  to  a  girl  as  gifted  but  as 
penniless  as  himself,  so  irritated  her  that 
two  years  passed  before  she  would  speak 
to  them. 

Late  in  her  life  but,  with  the  exception  of 
Poniatowski,  first  in  her  heart,  came  d'Alem- 
bert  and  Julie  de  Lespinasse,  waifs  and  strays 
from  Madame  Du  Deffand's  salon.  D'  Alem- 
bert,  though  drawn  from  his  obscurity  and 
introduced  to  society  by  Madame  Geoffrin, 
had  long  been  a  wanderer  from  her  ranks 
and  had  for  many  years  taken  the  lead- 
ing part  in  Madame  Du  Deffand's  salon  and 
occupied  the  first  place  in  her  affections. 
Now,  refusing  to  forsake  Julie  and,  therefore, 
cast  forth  with  her,  he  sought  help  from  his 
old  friend. 

Julie  de  Lespinasse  was  the  only  woman 
ever  admitted  to  Madame  Geoffrin's  dinners ; 
women,  Madame  Geoffrin  said,  invariably 
diverting  attention  from  conversation  to 
themselves. 

But  this  conviction  did  not  prevent  her 
from    cultivating    women.      She    began    a 


328  The  Salon 

new  fashion  by  inviting  company  for  the 
middle  of  the  day,  but  for  her  women 
friends,  whom  she  chose  from  the  highest 
aristocracy,  she  had  supper  parties.  She 
was  particularly  intimate  with  Madame 
de  la  Valliere  until  senility  overtook  the 
Duchess,  the  robust  bourgeoise  being  still 
in  the  enjoyment  of  all  her  faculties.  Cath- 
erine of  Russia  and  Lady  Hervey  proved 
that  Madame  Geoffrin  could  make  friends 
among  women  abroad  and,  especially  during 
the  last  years  of  her  life,  she  made  many  at 
home. 

Madame  Necker,  young,  beautiful,  and 
clever,  attracted  many  of  the  habitues  of 
Madame  Geoffrin's  salon  to  her  own,  but  no 
trace  of  jealousy  is  ever  to  be  found  in  Ma- 
dame Geoffrin  and  she  cordially  welcomed 
the  new  candidate  to  the  philosophical  circle. 
They  visited  each  other  without  ceremony, 
and  Monsieur  and  Madame  Necker  were 
both  counted  among  her  favourites. 

When,  in  1764,  turned  out  of  doors  by 
Madame  Du  Deffand,  Julie  de  Lespinasse 
was  led  by  d'  Alembert  to  Madame  Geoffrin, 


Madame  Geoffrin  329 

the  interesting  fugitive  from  the  rival  salon 
was  warmly  welcomed  and  unexampled 
attentions  and  benefits  were  heaped  upon 
her.  The  warmth  of  Madame  Geoffrin's 
welcome  was  prompted  at  first,  there  is  no 
doubt,  by  spite  towards  the  common  enemy, 
but  she  soon  experienced  the  ascendency  of 
that  charm  which  all  those  underwent  who 
ever  came  in  contact  with  Julie  de  Lespi- 
nasseand  fell  likewise  a  willing  victim  to  her 
spells. 

As  I  have  said,  Poniatowski  apart,  Julie 
de  Lespinasse  and  d'Alembert  were  those 
to  whom  Madame  Geoffrin  became  most 
deeply  attached,  and  it  was  they  to  whom 
she  turned  as  she  grew  older  and  feebler. 
The  daily  visits  which  at  first  they  paid 
her  together  were  increased  to  two  a  day 
and,  finally,  even  the  task  of  selecting  her 
guests  was  abandoned  to  them,  notwith- 
standing the  growing  jealousy  of  Madame 
Geoffrin's  opposing  and  imposing  daughter 
who  could  only  see  in  Julie  de  Lespinasse 
and  d'  Alembert  a  dangerous,  conspiring 
pair  and  in  their  devotion  a  carefully  woven 


33°  The  Salon 

intrigue  directed  against  herself,  and  which 
had  pecuniary  gain  for  its  object. 

Madame  Geoffrin,  as  we  know,  survived 
Julie  de  Lespinasse,  who,  unknown  to 
Madame  Geoffrin,  as  to  her  other  friends, 
was  consumed  by  the  unsatisfied  longings 
of  a  passionate  heart  and,  the  year  following 
her  death,  Madame  Geoffrin  falling  ill,  the 
combative  daughter  had  her  own  way  and 
gained  the  satisfaction  of  denying  admit- 
tance to  d'Alembert. 

Illness  had  not  destroyed  Madame  Geof- 
frin's  strong  sense  of  humour.  "She  wished 
to  defend  my  tomb  against  the  infidels!"  she 
said  later,  laughing,  for  d'Alembert  was  not 
the  only  philosopher  against  whom  Madame 
de  la  Ferte-Imbault  shut  their  door,  being 
equally  severe  in  regard  to  all  Madame  Geof- 
frin's  philosophical  friends  and,  to  avoid  a 
conflict  with  the  high-spirited  Marquise, 
Madame  Geoffrin  was  obliged  to  acquiesce 
in  this  hard  measure.  Great  was  the  scandal 
it  occasioned;  her  old  friends,  resenting  this 
treatment  provoking  a  violent  quarrel  with 
the    Church    party  who,    on    their    side, 


Madame  Geoffrin  33 l 

warmly  defended  the  action  of  the  zealous 
Marquise. 

In  Madame  Geoffrin's  carefully  premedi- 
tated scheme  of  existence  she  had  by  no 
means  forgotten  to  plan  for  her  old  age. 
"At  seventy,"  she  said,  "I  shall  begin  to 
break  all  the  attachments  of  my  heart,  then 
I  will  firmly  seal  it  in  a  manner  that  none 
shall  enter." 

This  determination  could  be  the  only 
reason  for  her  behaviour  toward  Ponia- 
towski  when,  in  1768,  she  returned  all  his 
letters  and  endeavoured  to  provoke  a  rup- 
ture. But  the  King  again  refused  to  quar- 
rel and  after  a  time  their  correspondence 
was  resumed.  She  henceforth  declined  to 
receive  any  new-comers  and  her  salon  be- 
gan to  shrink  as  she  endeavoured  to  de- 
tach herself  from  the  various  interests  of 
life. 

"You  have  said,  my  dear  Grimm,  that 
the  baron  was  very  amiable,"  she  wrote 
touchingly,  in  1770,  excusing  herself  from 
receiving  him,  "It  is  another  reason  to 
fortify    myself  in    my  resolution   to  make 


332  The  Salon 

no  more  acquaintances.  The  gate  is 
closed." 

Madame  Geoffrin  was  by  nature  optimis- 
tic and  she  had  always  possessed  what  she 
called  an  "inward  gaiety."  She  had  not 
been  one  of  those  who  regarded  the  growing 
public  discontent  with  anxiety,  but  now  her 
tone  begins  to  change  and  her  thoughts  are 
tinged  with  melancholy.  "At  this  moment 
they  are  destroying  ;  we  must  see  what 
they  will  reconstruct  on  the  ruins.  Young, 
one  trusts;  old,  one  waits,"  she  wrote  on 
her  "carnets." 

Neither  did  Madame  Geoffrin  neglect 
precautionary  measures  for  the  salvation 
of  her  soul  in  her  methodical  prepara- 
tions. "She  went  to  church,"  said  Mar- 
montel,  satirically,  referring  to  her  clan- 
destine attendance  at  mass,  "to  gain  with 
Heaven  without  losing  with  her  world." 
But  Madame  Geoffrin  had  always  forbidden 
open  attacks  against  the  Church  and  even 
sometimes  sought  to  bring  her  philosophical 
friends  into  harmony  with  it,  as  in  the  case 
of  Fontenelle  and  of  Mairan  ;  and  she  now 


Madame  Geoffrin  333 

wished  no  less  to  make  the  same  good  end 
herself.  At  all  events,  from  this  time  she 
attended  church  oftener  and  it  was  this  new 
devotional  zeal  which  hastened  her  death. 

The  Papal  Jubilee  of  1776  was  celebrated 
with  extraordinary  fervour  in  Paris.  There 
was  a  religious  revival  and  even  many  who 
agreed  with  the  encyclopedistes  were  carried 
away  by  the  wave  of  feeling  which  swept 
over  the  city.  Though  it  was  March,  the  cold 
was  unprecedented,  and  Madame  Geoffrin 
was  among  the  pious  who  remained  for 
many  hours  at  church  exposed  to  the  trying 
cold,  from  the  effects  of  which  she  never 
recovered. 

The  idea  of  old  age  is  usually  associated 
in  the  mind  with  dependence  and  trust,  the 
drawing  closer  of  the  bonds  which  unite  fam- 
ilies, but  family  ties  were  early  relegated 
to  the  background  by  Madame  Geoffrin,  and 
anything  which  resembles  affection  must  be 
looked  for  in  the  case  of  Poniatowski,  whom 
she  called  her  son,  rather  than  of  her 
daughter,  maternal  instinct  had  not  been 
strong  enough  to  override  an   antagonism 


334  The  Salon 

arising  from  opposing  ideals  and  clashing  of 
wills.  The  relations  between  mother  and 
daughter  were  maintained  by  reason  rather 
than  by  affection,  and  were  in  the  nature 
of  the  armed  peace  which  constitutes  the 
so-called  friendly  relations  between  jealous 
neighbouring  nations,  but,  as  they  grew 
older,  each  felt  the  estrangement,  and  better 
feelings  were  cultivated  between  them. 

Madame  de  la  Ferte-Imbault,  though  she 
early  lost  her  husband,  was  lifted,  by  reason 
of  her  marriage,  to  the  ranks  of  the  noblesse, 
and  she  identified  herself  completely  with 
the  Court.  Like  her  mother,  she  possessed 
uncommon  virtues  for  her  time  and  was  ex- 
emplary in  her  private  life.  The  two,  how- 
ever, never  agreed,  and  she  undoubtedly 
added  more  of  pain  than  pleasure  to  the 
sum  of  Madame  Geoffrin's  life,  and  was  of 
no  more  assistance  to  her  in  her  career 
than  her  husband  had  been.  The  daugh- 
ter, in  fact,  detested  the  philosophers  as 
heartily  as  had  her  father,  and  openly  de- 
clared her  aversion  to  the  profession  of 
letters.     Madame  de  la   Ferte-Imbault  not 


Madame  Goeffrin  335 

only  practised  exceptional  virtues  in  a  time  of 
lax  behaviour  but  in  a  time,  also,  of  unbelief 
she  was  an  uncompromising  member  of  the 
church  militant,  and  denounced  the  encyclo- 
pedistes  with  characteristic  energy  as  "se- 
ductors,  corruptors,  and  destroyers  of  all 
virtue  and  of  all  principle." 

Madame  de  la  Ferte-Imbault  was  no  less 
worthy  of  her  mother  in  mind  than  in 
morals,  as  was  proved  by  the  character  of 
her  friendships  which  included  men  such  as 
Maurepas,  Cardinal  de  Bernis,  and  the  Due 
de  Nivernais,  who  were  the  leaders  of  the 
anti-philosophical  party;  but  they  were  in- 
timacies which  did  not  tend  to  union  be- 
tween two  self-willed  natures  living  under 
the  same  roof. 

D'Alembert  declared  that  Madame  de  la 
Ferte-Imbault  curried  favour  with  the  aristoc- 
racy and  it  is  true  that,  after  the  example  of 
her  mother,  she  sought  intimacies  with  the 
great.  One  of  these  was  her  friendship  with 
the  old  and  exiled  though  still  gay  and  gallant 
King  Stanislas  Leczinski  —  Poniatowski's 
predecessor  and  the  father  of  Louis  XV. 's 


336  The  Salon 

Queen — who  was  fascinated  by  her  lively 
manner.  "His  daughter  and  his  wife,"  he 
confided  to  her,  "were  the  two  most 
wearisome  queens  he  had  ever  met." 

In  spite  of  a  keen  interest  in  everything 
relating  to  the  Court  and  to  politics,  Madame 
de  la  Ferte-Imbault  could  never  be  induced 
to  enter  Madame  de  Pompadour's  circle, 
though  she  had  known  her  in  earlier  days. 

Madame  d'  Etioles  had  been  introduced  to 
Madame  Geoffrin  by  Madame  de  Tencin — 
who  already  had  the  end  to  which  she 
attained  in  view — and  she  soon  ingratiated 
herself  both  with  Madame  Geoffrin  and  her 
daughter  by  her  assiduous  attentions  and 
evident  wish  to  please.  A  few  years  later 
she  was  known  as  the  Marquise  de  Pompa- 
dour, and  the  most  illustrious  personages 
danced  attendance  upon  the  King's  favourite 
who  begged  Madame  de  la  Ferte-Imbault  to 
accept  some  post  near  her  at  Court,  but  in 
vain.  Her  old  friend  always  spoke  well  of 
Madame  d'  Etioles  but  she  could  never  be 
persuaded  to  have  relations  with  Madame 
de  Pompadour. 


Madame  Geoffrin  337 

Madame  Geoffrin  survived  the  illness 
which  followed  her  attendance  on  the  Jubi- 
lee a  year,  during  which  she  was  unable  to 
move  hand  or  foot  with  one  exception 
when,  by  a  supreme  effort,  she  wrote  the 
last  words  traced  by  her  pen. 

"I  love  you  with  all  my  heart."  They 
were  written  to  Poniatowski. 

The  report  of  this  illness  excited  general 
regret  abroad.  Catherine,  forgetful  of  her 
wrongs,  remembered  only  their  friendship, 
and  suggested  treatment  and  asked  for  news 
by  every  courier.  Joseph  II,  visiting  Paris, 
went  to  see  her  at  her  request.  Her  death 
occurred  October  6th,  1777. 

"  I  am  very  sorry  for  the  death  of  Madame 
Geoffrin,"  wrote  Catherine  to  Grimm.1 
"  You  will  find  a  great  void  in  Paris."  And 
again  :  "I  am  not  satisfied  with  the  eulo- 
gies and  '  portraits '  of  Madame  Geoffrin, 
they  all  have  the  bourgeois  look.  One 
would  believe  them  to  have  been  written 
by  the  King  of  England,  or  by  some  good 
citizen,  which  is  synonymous.2 

1  Oct.  29,  1777.  2  Jan.  iG)    1778. 


338  The  Salon 

The  extravagant  praises  of  the  philoso- 
phers had,  indeed,  the  appearance  of  being 
addressed  to  their  benefactress  rather  than 
to  the  personality  of  Madame  Geoffrin,  and 
the  brief  sentence  in  which  the  Comtesse 
de  la  Marke  told  Gustavus  III  of  the  event 
gives  a  more  just  summary  of  the  depriva- 
tion to  society  which  her  death  entailed. 
"It  is  a  loss  for  the  arts  and  a  good  woman 
the  less." 


If  we  look  for  a  moment  at  the  inner 
workings  of  Madame  Geoffrin's  salon  the 
reasons  for  her  remarkable  ascendency  will 
soon  be  seen. 

Her  success  was  due  to  various  causes. 
In  the  first  place,  of  a  bold,  dominant 
nature  she  was  naturally  a  leader  of  men. 
Then  she  possessed  that  practical  intelli- 
gence which  is  always  an  element  in  suc- 
cess. Her  salon  was  organised  on  business 
principles,  she  constantly  applied  herself  to 
attain  perfection  in  all  its  details  and  it  was 
therefore    the    best    administered  of    any 


Madame  Geoffrin  339 

salon.  Extending  over  a  period  of  thirty 
years  its  continuity  added  to  its  prestige 
and,  amid  the  storms  and  uncertainty  of  the 
time,  it  represented  permanency.  Modera- 
tion, order,  tranquillity — in  spite  of  the  Bo- 
hemian character  of  some  of  her  guests — 
were  the  foundational  and  predominating 
notes  of  this  famous  salon. 

It  was  not  enough  that  an  invitation 
should  be  sent  a  new-comer  or  that  an 
habitue"  should  be  permitted  to  introduce  a 
friend  who,  it  was  an  unwritten  law,  should 
have  some  particular  merit  or  metier,  should 
be  in  fact  a  celebrity  of  some  sort,  but, 
once  admitted,  she  bound  him  to  her  by  the 
bonds  of  gratitude. 

"The  grass  must  not  grow  on  friend- 
ship's path,"  was  one  of  her  characteristic 
sayings,  and  she  continually  practised  this 
principle  showering  benefits,  gifts,  and  atten- 
tions, according  to  their  needs,  on  all  those 
whom  she  patronised  or  wished  to  attach 
to  her. 

Not  pretending  to  be  a  conversationalist 
herself  she  nevertheless  skilfully   led   and 


34o  The  Salon 

directed  the  conversation  in  her  salon. 
With  over  long  stories  she  had  no  patience. 
One  day  at  dinner  observing  a  loquacious 
guest  draw  from  his  pocket  a  knife  with 
which  he  proceeded  to  help  himself,  she  drily 
remarked:  ''Monsieur  le  Comte,  one  must 
have  long  knives  and  short  stories." 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  leader  of  a  salon 
followed  a  profession.  For  Madame  Geof- 
frin,  her  rivals  and  her  predecessors,  their 
salons  were  the  chief  aims  of  their  existence. 
To  their  direction  all  other  occupations  were 
entirely  subordinated.  They  were  quite 
truly  kingdoms  whose  diverse  elements  must 
be  harmonised,  whose  domains  were  strictly 
guarded,  from  whence  unhappy  exiles  wan- 
dered, whose  inhabitants  sometimes  deserted 
to  the  enemy,  and  which  also  sometimes 
received  recruits  from  rival  camps.  They 
were  governed  after  the  manner  of  an  abso- 
lute monarchy  whose  rule — and  more  par- 
ticularly in  the  case  of  Madame  Geoffrin 
was  this  true  —  was  despotic  and  often 
tyranical ;  nevertheless  the  greatest  artists 
submitted  their  work  to  her  dictation  who 


Madame  Geoffrin  341 

was  incapable  of  being  a  real  judge  of  art, 
and  the  most  celebrated  writers  were  anx- 
ious to  have  their  productions  approved  by 
this  unlettered  woman. 

Faith  in  her  judgment  was  well  nigh  uni- 
versal. When  Helvetius'  De  VEsprit  ap- 
peared, he  exclaimed  to  his  friends,  "Let 
us  see  how  Madame  Geoffrin  will  receive 
me :  it  is  only  on  consultation  with  this 
thermometer  of  opinion  that  I  shall  know 
exactly  of  the  success  of  my  work  !  " 

Madame  Geoffrin  did  not  possess  the 
forcible  intellect  of  Madame  Du  Deffand,  the 
sensitive  emotional  nature  of  Julie  de  Les- 
pinasse,  nor  was  she,  like  Madame  d '  Epinay, 
a  writer.  She  does  not  represent  the  highest 
order  of  mind.  She  was  wanting  in  the 
delicate  shades  of  perception  and  of  feel- 
ing. But  all  her  friends  felt  that  in  Madame 
Geoffrin  they  had  a  practical,  a  sagacious,  and 
a  sure  friend.  She  could  hardly,  however,  be 
called  an  ideal  friend  for,  though  she  was 
prepared  to  spare  neither  time,  effort,  nor 
money  to  serve  them,  should  misfortune 
which   she   could  not  alleviate,  befall,  she 


342  The  Salon 

shut  her  eyes  to  their  miseries  and  her  ears 
to  their  complaints.  In  short,  she  put  an  end 
at  once  to  any  friendship  which  might  prove 
painful  and  if  a  friend  was  separated  from 
her  as  she  thought  forever,  she  schooled 
herself  never  to  think  of  him  again  and  re- 
fused to  continue  a  correspondence  with 
persons  whose  return  was  unlikely.  If  she 
entered  a  house  and  found  it  sad  or  gloomy 
she  left  it  at  once.  She  was  ready  to  rejoice 
with  those  who  were  glad  but  not  to  weep 
with  those  who  wept.  That  part  of  Christian 
doctrine  she  rejected  from  the  beginning  of 
her  career. 

The  quality  of  common  sense  which  Ma- 
dame Geoffrin  possessed  in  so  large  a  degree 
was  the  virtue  which  she  considered  super- 
ior to  any  other  and  by  its  constant  practice 
she  became  habituated  to  rigidly  control,  if 
not  to  altogether  stifle,  her  impulses  and 
emotions.  The  virtues  she  practised  were 
not  difficult ;  she  conformed  to  the  Church  to 
satisfy  her  ideas  of  propriety,  law,  and  order ; 
she  was  charitable  to  satisfy  instincts  which 
nature  had  given  her.     Passion,  excess  in 


HELVETIU3. 
From  an   Fiujravini)  hi/  St.  Anhhi.  after  the  I'mtr.iil  by   Vaiil, 


Madame  Geoffrin  343 

any  form,  was  a  danger  to  be  avoided,  and 
the  passion  of  love  or  hate,  of  joy,  or  of 
grief,  which  deeper  natures  suffer  or  enjoy 
was  unknown  to  her.  She  sought,  at  all 
hazards,  to  lead  a  tranquil  life,  at  the  ex- 
pense, no  doubt,  of  many  finer  feelings.  It 
was  always  the  voice  of  prudence  to  which 
she  listened  ;  it  was  the  watchword  of  this 
peace-loving,  well-balanced,  and  disciplined 
nature.  Therefore  Madame  Geoffrin  had  no 
absorbing  emotional  experiences,  and  she 
never  made  use  of  women's  arts  to  attract 
the  other  sex.  A  slightly  hard,  cold,  pain- 
fully polished  product,  she  was  never  known 
to  have  melting  moods.  But  she  bound 
men  to  her  by  obligations  such  as  practical 
help  and  by  intelligent  sympathy  in  their 
undertakings.  Ambition  was  her  only  pas- 
sion and.  once  admitted  to  this  self-contained 
nature,  it  entered  into  full  possession  ;  her 
husband,  henceforth,  was  but  a  figurehead  ; 
her  daughter  another  impediment,  another 
disappointment. 

Madame  Geoffrin  presents  a  curious  con- 
trast of  pride  and  modesty,  of  selfishness 


344  The  Salon 

and  generosity.  The  great  causes  for  which 
her  habitues  were,  for  the  most  part,  strug- 
gling, found  her  unresponsive  and  cold,  her 
very  morality  in  such  an  age  proceeded,  it 
might  seem,  rather  from  a  cold  nature  and 
a  calculating  disposition,  which  always 
counted  the  cost,  than  from  high  ideals.  Her 
reasonableness  was  carried  to  such  a  pitch  as 
to  be  sometimes  repugnant.  One  would  wish 
to  see  higher  aspirations,  a  heart  more  freely 
given  to  human  affection,  and  with  less 
thought  of  consequences.  In  fact  one  would 
like  Madame  Geoffrin  to  have  been  less 
sensible. 

But  such  she  was.  If  she  made  the  most 
of  her  life  who  can  say? 

From  the  point  of  view  of  worldly  wisdom 
there  is  no  doubt  as  to  the  answer.  An  un- 
educated girl  of  common  origin  had  lifted 
herself  by  her  own  unaided  efforts  to  be  a 
power  in  Europe.  If  she  did  not  follow 
Emerson's  mandate  to  "  hitch  your  waggon 
to  a  star,"  she  perhaps  accomplished  all  that 
which  lay  within  her  scope.  Eminently 
practical,  she  made  good  use  of  this  talent ; 


Madame  Geoffrin  345 

she  lifted  artists  and  musicians  to  a  higher 
place  in  society  than  they  had  before  occu- 
pied ;  and  her  wide  benevolence  secured  for 
her  the  esteem  of  every  class  of  society. 
Critic,  friend  and  patroness  of  artists,  kindly 
and  captious,  generous  and  patronising,  such 
is  the  figure  which  differentiates  her  salon 
from  that  of  each  of  those  women  whose 
meetings,  friends,  joys,  and  troubles  I  have 
already  attempted  to  outline.  She  is  per- 
haps the  most  remarkable  of  any  of  them, 
presenting  a  curious  study  of  the  essentially 
bourgeois  type  tempered  by  the  literary  and 
artistic  atmosphere  of  the  times,  never  able, 
however,  to  throw  off  the  native  qualities  ot 
her  character.  The  airs  and  graces  which 
complete  the  portrait  in  Madame  Du  Deffand 
or  Julie  de  Lespinasse  sit  as  it  were  awk- 
wardly on  this  sensible  figure  who  in  many 
respects  resembles  that  of  the  literary  ladies 
of  London,  such  as  Mrs.  Thrale,  rather  than 
the  more  intellectual  minds  and  more  sensi- 
tive natures  of  the  leading  women  of  the  age 
in  France.  She  was  as  incapable  of  feeling  the 
emotions  which  racked  the  ardent  soul  of 


346  The  Salon 

Julie  de  Lespinasse  as  she  was  of  imitating 
the  fine  wit  of  Madame  Du  Deffand  or  of 
understanding  the  tender  enthusiasms  of 
Madame  d'Epinay. 

This  excellent  woman  possessed  the 
virtues  and  the  failings  of  the  bourgeoisie. 
Governed  by  common  sense,  illumined  by 
the  bright  gleams  of  a  generous  nature,  she 
demonstrates  many  of  the  drawbacks  which 
result  from  a  realistic  conception  of  life. 
There  were  aims  which  she  could  not  un- 
derstand and  such  she  deemed  futile.  The 
eighteenth  century  is  marked  in  general  by 
its  limitations— as  is  the  life  of  Madame  Geof- 
frin.    Her  eyes  were  never  lifted  to  the  stars  ! 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

The  following  are  the  principal  works 
which  have  been  consulted  in  the  prepara- 
tion of  the  preceding  studies,  and  this  list 
is  for  the  use  of  those  who  may  wish  to 
pursue  the  subject  in  greater  detail. 

A'iss6.  Lettres  portugaises  avecles  responses;  lettres 
de  Mdlle.  A'isse",  etc.,  Paris,  Bibliotheque  Charpentier, 

1873. 

D'AIembert,  CEuvres,  Paris,  Berlin,  1822,  5  vol. 

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347 


348  The  Salon 

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INDEX 


Affrey,  Comte  d',  124,  127 
Aisse,     Mademoiselle,     67,     67 

note,  212,  274 
Aix,  Archbishop  of,  213 
Albon,    Comtesse    d',    71,    198, 

201,  203 
Alembert,  d',  14,  26,  32,  42,  44, 

58,  65,  72,    76,   92,    109,    165, 

198,  206,   209,    213,  221,  226, 

228,  229,  256,   262,   273,    290, 

306, 319,  327-330,  335 
Alembert,    d',    La   Lettrc    a    <f 

Alembert  contre  les  Spectacles, 

165 
Alembert,  oeuvres  d',  241 
Amboise,  chateau  d',  101 
A  mi  tie"  de  Deux  Jolies  Femmes, 

Madame  d'  Epinay,  189 
Arnaud,  1'  abbe,  257 
Arty,  Madame  d',  137 
Astaque,  95,  96 
Aubernon  de  Nerville,  Madame, 

30 
Austen,  Jane,  261 
Avauges,  chateau  d',   202 
Aydie,  Chevalier  d',  66,  212 

B 

Bachaumont,  12 

Barthelemy,  l'abbe,  32,  106,  107 

F.ath,  Lord,  98 

Beauregard,  Costa  de,  307 

Beauvau,     Prince   de,     81,     9S, 

154,  158,  212,  222 
Heauvau,  Princesse  de,  20,  Si 
Hellegarde,     Madame    de,     126, 

127,  129,  130 
Bellegarde,    Monsieur   de,     125, 

127,    128,    131,  132,  134,  139, 

149,  150 


Belzunce,  Vicomte  de,  184 
Belzunce,  Vicomtesse  de,  184 
Benedict  XIV,  Pope,  271 
Berniere,  Presidente  de,  56 
Bernis,  1'  abbe,  335 
Blacqueville,  Marquise  de,  30 
Boileau,  8,  290 
Boisgelin,  Comtesse  de,  99 
Boismont,  1'  abbe  de,  213 
Bolingbroke,  Lord,  33,  174,  274 
Bon,  1'  abbe,  213 
Bouchardon,  308 
Boucher,  179,  305,  308,  309 
Boufflers,  Duchesse  de,  81,  221 
Boufflers,  Chevalier  de,  81,  99 
Boufflers,  Comtesse  de,  Sr 
Boufflers,  Marquis  de,  81 
Boufflers,  Marquise  de,  8r 
Boulaincourt,  Comtesse  de,  30 
Bovier,  Bernard  de  (Fontenelle), 

290 
Brooke's,  (club)   146 
Brunetiere,  Ferdinand,  7  note,  8, 

9  note 
Buffenoir,   Hippolyte,  159  note 
Buff  on,  9 

Bunbury,  Lady  Sarah,  100 
Burigny,  301,  302,  304 
Burke,  Edmund,  9S,  179 
Burney,  Fanny,  261 


Cambis,  Vicomtesse  de,  99 
Caraccioli,  Marquis,  1S5,  257 
Carlisle,  fifth  Earl  of,  Frederick 

Howard,  94,  100 note,  104 
Castelmoron,  Madame  de,  60 
Castle  of  Otranto,   The,   Horace 

Walpole,  182 


354 


Index 


Catalogues  Historique  du  Cabinet 
de  Peintures  et  de  Sculpture 
Francaise,  Jully,  180 

Catherine  II,  142,  190,  239,  258, 

278,  315-  319.  32i,  328,  337 
Causeries   du    Lundi,    Sainte- 

Beuve,  296  note 
Caylus,  Count  de,  306,  325 
Champrond,  chateau  de,  49,  70, 

71,  198,  204,  205 
Champrond,    Marie    de    Vichy, 

see  Marquise  Du  Deffand 
Chantilly,  chateau  de,  22 
Chardin,  179 
Charlemont,  Lord,  234 
Chastellux,  Chevalier  de,  222,  257 
Chatillon,  Duchesse  de,  220,  221, 

222,  259 
Chemineau,  Madame,  277,   278, 

279 
Chesterfield,  Lord,  274 
Choiseul,  Due  de,  81,  101,  102, 

104,   104  note,    106,  185,  187, 

221,  298,  347 
Choiseul,   Duchesse  de,   29,   32, 

69,  79,  81,  101,  102,  104,  107, 

hi,  185 
Cochin  (artist),  307 
Colonna,  Vittoria,  2 
Condillac,  229 
Condorcet,    14,    73,    158,     217, 

254,  256,  260,  262 
Confessions,  Rousseau,  166,  185, 

194 
Conti,  Prince  de,  137 
Conti,  Princesse  de,  29 
Conversations  f    d  Emilie,     Les, 

Madame  d'Epinay,  189,  191 
Conway,  General,  223 
Corneille,  Pierre,  7,  9,  290 
Correggio,  307 
Coulanges,  abbe  de,  106 
Crawford,    James,    52,     66,    92, 

99,  213,  235 
Creutz,  Comte  de,  185,  326 
Crewe,  Mrs.,  98 
Croismare,  Marquis  de,  180 

D 

Darner,  Mrs.,  100 


Denis,  Madame,  172 

Deschanels,  M.  Paul,  105 

Desmoulins,  150 

Dialogues  sur  les  Ble's,  Galiani, 
187 

Diderot,  9,  81,  162-164,  171, 
175-180,  182,  187.  190,  192, 
237,  285,  290,  326 

Dorat,  Claude  Joseph,  254 

Drouais,  309 

Du  Barry,  Comtesse,  102 

Dubois,  Cardinal,  270 

Du  Chatelet,  Marquise,  58,  65, 
66,  108 

Duclos,  140,  144,  169,  272 

Du  Deffand,  Madame,  Corre- 
spondance  complete  de,  ed.  de 
M.  de  Sainte-Aulaire,  52  note, 
79  note,  80,  81,  88,  89,  91,  93, 
94,  98,  99,  100  note,  in  note, 
112  note,  116  note,  156  note, 
220  note,  235  note. 

Du  Deffand,  Madame,  Corre- 
spondance  complete  de,  ed.  de  M. 
de  Lescure,  72 

Du  Deffand,  Madame,  et  sa 
famille,  M.  de  Segur,  no 
note,  113  note,  114  note,  115 
note 

Du  Deffand,  Marquis,  51,  55, 
70 

Du  Deffand,  Marquise,  16,  22, 
26,  32,  33,  37,  38,  42,  44-107, 
180,  185,  195,  198-276,  289, 
308,  311,  312,  324,  327,  328, 
34i,  345,  346 

Du  Fargis,  Delrieu,  54 

Dutens,  95 

Dutens,  Mtfmoires,  95 


Edgeworth,  Maria,  156 
Emerson,  Ralph  Waldo,  344 
Emilc,  Rousseau,  164 
Encyclopedic,  27,  175,  215 
Enville,  Duchesse  d',  14,  255,  256 
Epinay,   Denis  Joseph   La   Live 
de  Hellegarde  d\  128,  128  note, 
129-134,  149,  183,  184 


Index 


355 


£pinay,  Dernier  es  Annies  de 
Madame  d\  Lucien  Perey  et 
Gaston  Maugras,  123  note,  195 
note 

£pinay,  La  yeunesse  de  Madame 
d\  Lucien  Perey  et  Gaston 
Maugras,  126  note,  127  note, 
150  note 

Epinay,  Louise  Florence  Petro- 
nille  Esclavelles,  Madame  d',  9, 

21,    22,    26,    39,    83,    IO9,    Il8, 

130,    I34-I99.   253,  264,  325, 
.  341 

Epinay,    Madame  d',   Lettres  et 
r  Portrait,  188 
Epinay,  Madame  d',  Af/moires, 

39,  79,  124,  143,  143  note,  153 

note,  162,  164,   166,  168  note, 

169  note,  i~2  note,  192-  194 
Esclavelles,  Baron  d',  124 
Esclavelles,  Baroness  d',  125,  126, 

130,  140,  144.  177 
Esprit  des  Lois,  Montesquieu,  69 
Essais  sur  F  Histoire  de  la  Lit- 

te'rature  Francaise,  J.  J.  Weiss, 

106  note 
Ette,  Mademoiselle  d',  137,  138 


Fagniani,  Maria,  100 
Ferney,  108,  172,  174 
Ferriol,  Monsieur  de,  67,  274 
Ferte-Imbault,   Marquise  de    la, 
266,  280,    282,    302,    316-318, 

329,  336 
Fitzpatrick,  Richard,  94 
Fleury,  Cardinal  de,  273 
Fontenclle,  15,    26,    32,   33,   58, 

271,  274,    2S9,    290-302,    324, 

332 
Formont,  65,  66,  72,  212 
Fox,  Charles  James,  94,  98,  99 
Fragonard,  69, 151,  179 
Francois,  1,  101 
Francueil,    11S,    128,    138,     13S 

note,  139,  144,  170,  176 
Franklin,  Benjamin,  156,  157 
Frederic     II,    King    of   Prussia, 

S4,  161 


French  Academy,  9,  13 
Friesen,  Comte  de,  141,  143 
Fuentes,  Comte  de,  184,  245 


Galiani,  1'  abbe  Ferdinand,  54, 
122,    181,   185-187,  191,  245, 

325 

Gatti,  181,  326 

Gauffecourt,  140,  141,  150 

Gazette  Liit/raire,  1 80 

Genlis,  Madame  de,  63 

Geoffrin,  Madame,  4,  21,  22,  32, 
33,  37-40,  80,  83,  142,  180, 
223,  224,  232,  233,  253,  262, 
264,  266,  267,  268,  269,  274, 
276-349 

Geoffrin,  Monsieur,  266,  279- 
286,  334 

George  III.,  337 

Gibbon,  Edward,  99,  326 

Gleichen,  Baron  de,  185 

Gluck, 178,  262 

Goethe,  50 

Gray,  Thomas,  102,  313 

Gretry,  262 

Greuze,   305 

Grimm,  Baron,  18  note,  26,  81, 
118,  141-145,  150,  163,  170, 
171,  175,  177.  179,  181,  185, 
187,  18S,  190,  192,  227,  22S, 
note,  231  note,  237,  263,  300, 
302,   325,  331,  337 

Grimm,  Corrapondance  L  i  t- 
ttfraire,  18  note,  1S1,  1S8,  22S 
note,  231  note 

Guasco,  1'  abbe  de,  297,  298 

Guibert,  Comte  de,  198,  209, 
230,  246-262 

Gustavus  III,  1S5,  321,  338 

H 

Hare.  James,  66,  94 
Haussonville,  Comtesse  d',  30 
Heloise,  261 
Helvetius,    Claude  Adrien,     25, 

180,  326,   341 
Henault,   President,    26,  44,    59- 

61,  65,  76,  in,  213,  221,  222, 

30S 


356 


Index 


He'nault,  President,  Me'moires  du, 

M.  le  baron  de  V'igan,  61  note, 

222  note 
Henri  IV,  12,  319 
Henry,  Charles,  202 
Hermitage,  the,  128, 160, 164, 170 
Hertford,  Lord,  234 
Hertford,  Marchioness   of,     100 

note 
Hervey,  Lady,  284,  311,  328 
Holbach,  Baron  d',  25,  141,  144, 

171,  177,  326 
Holbach,  Baronne  d',  177,  180 
Houdetot,  Comte  d',  152,   153, 

161 
Hoadetot,  Comtesse  d',  32,  150- 

159,  165,  166,   170,   171,   177, 

257,  326 
Houdetot,  La  Comtesse   d\    Hip- 

polyte-Buffenoir,  l5gnote,i6i, 

162 
Hume,     David,     92,      93,     185, 

233-240,  326 
Hume,  David,  Life  and  Corres- 
pondence of,  J.    Hill   Burton, 

240  note 


James,  Prof.  William,  219 
Jefferson,  Thomas,  156 
Joseph  II,  316,  337 
Julie   ou   la    Nouvelle  He'lo'ise, 

J.  -J.    Rousseau,  34  note,  36 

note,  162,  164,  166 
Jully,  Monsieur  de,  128,  175,  180 

K 

Kaunitz,  Prince  de,  317 


La  Briche,  chateau  de,  11S,   183 
La  Chevrette,    chateau   de,    22, 

118,    127,    133,   139,  159-161, 

170,  176,  179,  183 
La  Fayette,  Comtesse  de,  9,  10 
La    Femme     au     Dix-Huitieme 


Siecle,    Edmond    et    Jules  de 
Goncourt,  148 

La  Fontaine,  68 

La  Harpe,  202,  232  note 

La  Harpe,  Correspondance  Lit- 
te'raire,  232 

Lambert,  Marquise  de,  8,  11-19, 
41,  274,  289,  300 

La  Motte,  58 

Langrenee,  309 

La  Rochefoucauld  d'Enville,Duc 
de,  27 

La  Rochefoucauld,  Francois, Due 
de,  284 

La  Tour,  308 

Les  Delices,  172,  181 

Lespinasse,  Mademoiselle  de, 
Correspondance  entre,  et  le 
Comte  de  Guibert,  Villeneuve- 
Guibert,  202,  209,  213,  250 
note 

Lespinasse,  Julie  de,  4,  13,  14, 
21,22,26,32,37,38,42,44,  63, 
71,  80,  83,  93,  184,  19S- 
276,  326-330,  341,  345,  346 

Lespinasse,  Julie  de,  le  Marquis 
de  Se'gur,  38  note,  75  note 

Lespinasse,  Mademoiselle  de,  Let- 
tres  de,  Eugene  Asse,  210  note, 
211  note,  230,  note,  231  note, 
237  note,  243  note,  247  note, 
252  note,  258  note,  260  note 

Lespinasse,  Mademoiselle  de,  Let- 
trcs  Ln/dites  de,  Charles  Henry, 
202,  250  note, 255  note, 256  note 

Letlre  a  d'  Alemberl,  contre  les 
Spectacles,  La,  165 

Levasseur,  Therese,  162 

Liancourt,  Due  de  La  Rochefou- 
cauld, 27 

Locke,  John,  236 

Longueville,  Duchesse  de.  10 

Louis  XIV,  31,  48 

Louis  XV,  40,  90,  102,  178,  268, 
273,  3i8,  335 

Louis  XVI,  255 

Luxembourg,  Due  de,  20 

Luxembourg,  Duchesse  de,  79, 
81,  99,  154,  220 

Luynes,  Duchesse  de,  60 


Index 


357 


M 

Maine,  Duchesse  de,  20,  56 
Mairan,  274,  300,  302,  332 
Malesherbes,  Lamoignon  de,  254 
Malesieux,  59 
Manuel  de  V Histoire de  la  Litt/r- 

ature  Francaise,  Brunetiere,  9 

note 
Marchais,  Madame  de,  156 
Marguerite    de     Valois-Angou- 

leme,  3 
Maria  Theresa,  317 
Marie  Antoinette,  317 
Marie  Leczinska,  Queen,  61,  84, 

153,  206,  336 
Mariette,  Monsieur,  307 
Marigny,  Marquis  de,  306,  307 
Marivaux,  324 
Marke,  Comtesse  de  la,  338 
Marmontel,   73,    81.     155,    209, 

228,  229  note,  230,  263,  306, 

307,  320,  326,  332 
Marmontel,  M/moires,  229 
Martin,  l'abbe,  145,  146,  176 
Massillon,  51 
Mathilde,  Princesse,  28 
Maugras,  Gaston,  123  note,   126 

note,  127  note,  150,  195  note 
Maurepas,  65,  335 
Mazarin,  palais,  12,  15 
Mes  Moments  Ileureux,  Madame 

d'Epinay,  1S9 
Mirepoix,  Duchesse  de,  79,  81 
Moliere,  8 

Montagu,  Mr.  George,  234 
Montagu,  Mrs.,  4 
Montespan,    Marquise    de,    62, 

63 
Montesquieu,   Baron  de,    8,   69, 

274,  269,  297,  29S 
Montesquieu,    Lettrcs  familieres 

du  President  de,  298 
Montmorency,  chateau  de,   20 
Montpensier,  Duchesse  de,   10 
Mora,  Marquis  de,  1S4,  198,  213, 

244-246,  250,  251,  259 
Morellet,   l'abbe,    156,  257,  325, 

326 
Mozart,  308 


N 

Napoleon,  28 

Necker,  Jacques,  99,  328 

Necker,  Madame,  9,  22,  38,  82, 

99,  154-156,  268,  325,  328 
Nivernais,  Due  de,  335 


O 


Orleans,    Phillipe    II,    Due    d', 
12,  47,  54,  270 


Paciaudi,  325 

Palais- Royal,  86 

Parabere,  Madame  de,  53 

Pascal,  Blaise,  8 

Pembroke,  Lady,  101 

Pere   de  Famille,  Le,    Voltaire, 

182 
Philosophes  et   la   Soei/l/  Fran- 
fat  se  au  XV Hie  Steele,    Pes, 

Marius    Roustan,    9    note,   27 

note 
Piccinni,  178 
Pignatelli,  Prince,  184 
Piron,  299 
Poland,  King  of,  32 
Pomblanc,  Comte  de,  96 
Pompadour,    Marquise  de,    161, 

1 75,  175  note,  272,  306 
Poniatowski,  Count,  314 
Poniatowski,    Stanislas  II,   287, 

305,    307,    3U-320,  327,  329. 

331,  333.  335.  337 
Pont  de  Veyle,  65 
Popeliniere,  Madame  de  la,  272, 
Popeliniere,  Monsieur  dela,  133, 

272 
Portrait,  d'  Alembert,  239 
Portraits,  Intimes  du  Dix-Hui- 

tiime  Siecle,  E.  et  J.   de    Gon- 

court,  40  note 
Pretender,  the,  Charles  Edward, 

Stuart,  63 
Prie,  Madame  de,  53,  55 


358 


Index 


Princesse  de  Cleves,  Comtesse  de 

La  Fayette,  10 
Prior,  Matthew,  269 
Proveur  de  Preux,  Andre,  124 
Proveur  de  Preux,  Florence  An- 

gelique,   124 


R 


Rabelais,  Francois,  102 

Kacine,  290,  291 

Rambouillet,  hotel  de,  3,  6,  7,  9, 

11,  15,  16,  299 
Rambouillet,  Marquise  de,  6,  7, 

IO-13     16,    41,  268,  303 
Rameau,  308 
Raynal,  1'  abbe,  181,  325 
Recamier,  Madame,  28 
Regent,  the,  Due  d'  Orleans,  12, 

47,  54,  86,  268,  270 
Regnier,  Mathurin,  7 
Remusat,  Madame  de,  158 
Reve   de    Mademoiselle    Clairon, 

Un,  Madame  d'  Epinay,  189 
Revue  des  Deux  Mondes,  7  note, 

no  note,  113  note,  114  note, 

115  note 
Richardson,  238 
Rome  Vaincue,  Voltaire,  297 
Roncherolles,  Marquise  de,  125, 

126,  129 
Rousseau,   Jean-Jacques,   8,   32, 

34  note,  35  note,  36  note,  38, 

67,  68,  81,  84,  118,  135,  140, 

I4r,     143,   148,  150-152,    156, 

159-172,    185,    192  note,  194, 

233,  278,  291 
Royaume  de  la  rue  Saint- Honor /, 

Le,  Pierre  de  Segur,  268,  284, 

317,  322 
Rulhiere,  323 


Sable,  Marquise  de,  10 
Saint-Cloud,  86 
Sainte-Beuve,  58,  296 
Saint  Joseph,  convent  of,  42,  44, 
92,  93,  198,  207,  212,  213,  222 


Saint-Lambert,     150-    166,    170, 

177,  192,  257,  326 
Saint-Ouen,  82 
Salons,  Les,  Diderot,  179 
Sand,  George,  137  note 
Sannois,  155,  156,  166 
Sappho,  200,  258-263 
Saurin,  Joseph,  180,  325 
Scarlatti,  177 
Sceaux,  20,  56,  58,  59 
Schonberg,  Comte  de,  141 
Scudery,  Madeleine  de,  10 
Selwyn,  George,  94,  97,  99,  100, 

100  note,  104,  285 
Sentimental  Journey,  Sterne,  238 
Sevigne,  Marquise  de,  1   ,  16,49, 

58,  84,  89,  90,  106,  155,  260, 

292 
Shelburne,  Lord,  257,  258 
Sommariva,  Monsieur  de,  159 
Sommery,   Mademoiselle    de,   18 

note 
Staal,  Marguerite  Jeanne  Cordier 

de  Launay,  Baronne  de,  57 
Stael,  Madame  de  (Anne  Louise 

Germaine  Necker,  Baronne  de 

Stael- Holstein),  28,  30,  154 
Stanislas  I,  Leczinski,  335 
Stanislas  II,    Poniatowski,    287, 

305,  307,  314-320,  327-337 
Sterne,  Laurence,  238,  257 
Storer,  Anthony  Morris,  66,  94 
Stormont,  Lord,  185 
Strawberry  Hill,  180,  312 
Suard,  180,  256,  326 
Suite  du    Voyage    Sentimcntale, 

Julie  de  Lespinasse,  238  note 
Sully,  319 


Taaffe,  Mr.,  213 
Talleyrand-Perigord,  96 
Tancrede,  Voltaire,  181-183 
Tencin,    Cardinal   de,    71,    201, 

206,  207 
Tencin,    Marquise   de,  8,  16,  19, 

21,  42,  65,  266-3OO,  313 
Thomas,  326 
Toulouse,  Archbishop  of,  213 


Index 


359 


Tronchin,  171,  173,  174 
Turgot,   Anne    Robert   Jacques, 

14,    73,    213,    217,    221,    229, 

254-256,  262,  326 


U 


Usse,  Marquis  d',  221 


Vaines,  M.  Jean  de,  256 
Valliere,  Duchesse  de,  81,  328 
Van  Loo,  Carle,  224,  309,  310 
Varieties  of  Religions   Experi- 
ence, The,  William  James,  219 
Verdreuil,  Comte  de,  96 
Vernet,  Claude-Joseph,  307 
Vichy,  Comte  de,  71,  201,  204, 

207 
Vichy,  Comtesse  de,  204 
Vieux  Garcon,  Marmontel,  231 


Volland,  Mademoiselle,  177 
note,  285 

Voltaire,  8,  17,  18,  47,  58,  59, 
62,  65,  66,  69,  108,  109,  118, 
144,  172-177,  181,  191,  224, 
239,  241,  289,  290,  292,  296, 
297,  300,  307,  320 

W 

Walpole,  Horace,  32,  33,  44, 
46,  47,  65,  68,  74,  76,  78,  84, 
85,  87-88,  89,  92-98,  102, 
107,  n r,  180,  213,  222-238, 
285,  288,  3"-3i4 

Walpole,  Horace,  Letters  of, 
ed.  Toynbee,  68  note,  89  note, 
107  note,  223  note,  234  note, 
284  note,  311  note,  314  note 

Watteau,  69 

Weiss,  J.  J.,  105 

White's  (club),  146 

Wiart,  79,  87 

Wien,  305 

Wilkes,  John,  98,  310 


He  holds  a  place  alone  and  unapproachable  in 
the  history  of  critical  literature. 


By  C.  A.  SAINTE*BEUVE 

Portraits   of  the 
Seventeenth     Century 

Historic  and  Literary 

Translated  by  KATHARINE  P.  WORMELEY 

a  vols.,    octavo.      Gilt  tops.  30  Illustrations.      Net,  $5.00 


Portraits  of  the 
Eighteenth  Century 

Historic  and  Literary 

Translated  by  K..  P.   WORMELEY  and  G.  D.  IVES 

2  vols.,  octavo.     Qilt  tops.    30  Illustrations.    Net,  $5.00 

The  quality,  the  discernment,  and  balance,  the 
intuitive  grasp  of  essentials,  the  grace,  force,  and 
jutsice  of  Sainte-Beuve's  critical  work  have  placed 
him  in  the  front  rank, — perhaps  it  would  be  better  to 
say,  have  given  him  a  place  alone  and  unapproach- 
able in  the  history  of  critical  literature.  In  the 
present  volumes,  Miss  Wormeley  and  Mr.  Ives  have 
selected  a  series  of  forty-eight  studies  of  men  and 
women,  literary  and  historical,  of  17th  and  18th 
Century  France. 

Miss  Wormeley  is  well-known  as  the  translator  of 
Balzac,  and  Mr.  Ives  as  the  translator  of  the  Series 
of  Little  French  Masterpieces. 

"  The  translator  is  a  true  servant  and  friend,  not  the  proverbial  traducer  ; 
none  but  Miss  Wormeley  could  have  been  selected  for  the  task,  and  she  has 
K'iven  of  her  best,  her  indefatigable,  conscientious,  intellectual  best  which  has 
made  her  the  mistress  of  a  difficult  art." —  The  Evening  Mail, 


New  York       Q.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS         London 


By  ARVEDE  BARINE 


Three  Volumes.     Authorized  English  Versions. 
Octavo.     Fully  Illustrated.    Sold  Separately. 

EacH  $3.00  net.  By  Mail,  $3.25 

The  Youth  of  La  Grande 
riademoiselle 

1627*1652 

"  This  brilliant  biography  sparkles  and  intoxicates  with  literary  vivacity. 
In  connection  with  the  career  of  the  astonishing  heroine,  the  author  presents 
a  picture  that  has  hardly  been  surpassed  of  Court  life  and  politics  in 
France  in  the  seventeenth  century.  The  illustrations  from  contemporary 
prints  add  greatly  to  the  attractiveness  of  this  fascinating  volume." — Ckicago 
Evening  Post, 

Louis  XIV  and  La  Grande 
Mademoiselle 

1652-1693 

"  A  new  work  on  La  Grande  Mademoiselle  by  Arvede  Barine  is  a  prom- 
ise of  delight  to  all  who  love  wit  and  wisdom.  .  .  .  It  is  bewildering 
to  think  of  the  many  crowns  and  coronets  that  might  have  rested  on  the 
brow  of  the  dramatic  heroine,  a  heroine  who  appears  and  disappears  in 
clouds  of  dust,  with  regiments  of  cavalry  wheeling  and  whirling  around 
her  to  the  sound  of  the  trumpets— the  stern  devotee  of  reason  who  dis- 
missed one  of  her  maids  because  she  married  for  love — the  philosopher 
who  debated  in  her  mimic  court  whether  an  accepted  lover  is  more  un- 
happy than  a  rejected  lover  in  the  absence  of  the  beloved.  .  .  .  The 
story  of  this  heroine  is  told  by  Barine  with  that  art  which  conceals  art. 
It  forms  a  fitting  supplement  to  the  equally  delightful  volume 
which  preceded  it  describing  'The  Youth  of  La  Grande  Mademoiselle.'" 
— London  Times. 

Princesses  and  Court 
Ladies 

The  success  of  the  earlier  volumes  has  encouraged  the  publication  of  the 
present  volume,  a  collection  of  papers  in  which  are  told  the  stories  of  sev- 
eral ladies  who  played  important  roles  in  the  great  world,  and  whose  careers 
were  watched  with  eager  interest  by  all  Europe.  The  stories  are  full  of 
romantic  interest,  vividly  picturesque,  and  written  with  the  easy  grace  and 
vivacity  that  characterize  French  studies  of  this  kind  at  the  best. 


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